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1). A P P L F T 0 JsT A N" I> (1 0 M P A N Y ,
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if-iwccExr.'' —
THE
EXPLOITS AND TfflUMPHS,
IN EUROPE,
PAUL MO.RPHY,
• . : - - :•:*.•
) '--*'. INOLITDIHQ 'j g , ,
AH HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF CLUBS, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF FAMOUS Pr.Li&iS, AND VARIOUS INFORMATION AND
ANECD.OTE RELATING TO THE NOBLE
CAMS O? CHESS.
BY
PAUL MORPHY'S LATE SECRETARY.
NEW YORK :
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
346 & 348 BROADWAY.
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LICHARY
2641V9U
jtfr. -' I»-T.X AND
a 1944 fc4
• * * •Entered according to Act of Congress, in the1 year 1859,
^ '. BY D. APPLETON AND DOMPA^Y,
la the Clerk's Office of the District Coo.rt.pf fte.Urflted States for the
' „ . Southern District of New Yprk.« • * * *
THIS EECORD
OP
PAUL MORPHY'S
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE OLD WOULD,
IS DEDICATED
TO
H\t Ptrabtrt of
THE FIRST AMERICAN CHESS CONGRESS,
BY
THEIB MOST GRATEFUL
AND OBLIGED SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
I am much indebted, in the following pages, to
the kind assistance of that able writer and veteran
chess-player, Mr. George Walker, who has fur
nished me with most of the very interesting and
valuable information contained in the fourth chap
ter of this work. I am likewise under obligations
to Herr Lowenthal for many anecdotes relating to
chess celebrities of the past, and other information ;
and also to Mr. George Medley, Honorary Secretary
of the London Chess Club, and Mr. Eies, of the
Divan.
The cuts with which this work is embellished
have been engraved by the well-known Brothers
Dalziel. The portrait of Paul Morphy, copied from
a photograph taken shortly after his arrival in Lon
don last year, is an excellent likeness.
The portraits of Messrs. Staunton, Boden, An-
derssen, and Lowenthal, are copies of photographs,
Vi PREFACE.
for which they sat at the Manchester Meeting, in
1857. The originals of Messrs. Saint Amant and
Harrwitz are admirably executed lithographs of
those gentlemen, taken about four years ago, and
that of Mr. Mongredieu is copied from a photo
graph kindly lent for the purpose.
I am under great obligations to Mr. Lewis, who
came to London expressly to sit for his likeness ;
and I feel assured that my readers will value this
" very form and feature " of an amateur who was
famous before Labourdonnais was known outside
the Kegence ; and whose works are found in every
chess-player's library.
I had considerable difficulty in obtaining the
portrait of Mr. George Walker. Photographs,
lithographs, etc., of that most popular of all chess
writers, did not exist, and many friends prophesied
that his likeness would not be in my book. But I
importuned him so that he relented, and confided to
my care an oil painting, for which he sat five years
ago, and which was the only portrait of him in
existence.
My readers can judge of the resemblance of the
other cuts by the portrait of Paul Morphy. I only
wish my story was as good.
CONTENTS.
1 run
CHAPTER I.
morphy's first games 1
CHAPTER H.
THE FIRST AmERICAN CHESS CONGRESS . . . .4
CHAPTER in.
mORPHT PREPARES TO START FOR EUROPE . . .12
CHAPTER IV.
CHESS IN ENGLAND . . . . . .28
CHAPTER V.
MORPHT IN ENGLAND ...... 57
CHAPTER VI.
V THE STAUNTON AFFAIR . .... 86
CHAPTER VII.
mORPHT IN FRANCE ...... 140
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CAjii DE LA REGENCE ..... 144
CHAPTER EX.
THE MATCH BETWEEN MOKPHY AND HARRWITZ . . . 150
CHAPTER X.
MOUPHY'S GREATEST BLINDFOLD FEAT . . . 159
CHAPTER XL
CONTINUATION OF THE MATCH WITH HARRWITZ . . . 166
CHAPTER XII.
MORPHY IN SOCIETY ..... 170
CHAPTER XIII.
MORPHY AND THE FRENCH AMATEURS .... 176
CHAPTER XTV.
MORPHY GETS BEATEN . . . . . 183
CHAPTER XV.
MORPHY AND ANDERSSEN ..... 186
CHAPTER XVI.
MORPHY AND MONGREDIEC ..... 197
CHAPTER XVII.
TROPHIES ....... 200
VALEDICTORY ....... 203
PAUL MORPHY.
CHAPTER I.
Paul Moephy's father, Judge Morphy, of the Su
preme Court of Louisiana, beguiled his leisure hours
with the fascinations of Chess, and, finding a precocious
aptitude for the game in his son, he taught him the
moves and the value of the various pieces. In the
language of somebody,—
" To teach the young Paul chess,
His leisure he'd employ ;
Until, at last, the old man
Was beaten by the boy."
I have here spoilt a very pretty story. The report in
chess circles is, that the young Paul learned the moves
2 PAUL MOEPHY.
from seeing his father play with his uncle, Mr. Ernest
Morphy, long ranking amongst the first players in the
Union, and one of the brightest living ornaments of
American chess. One evening—so runs the tale—this
gentleman awaited the arrival of the Judge, when
Master Paul impudently offered to be his antagonist.
What was the uncle's astonishment at finding the
stripling a match for his deepest combinations, and
what the father's surprise on discovering a very Phili-
dor in his son of ten years ! Deschapelles became a
first-rate player in three days, at the age of something
like thirty. Nobody ever believed the statement, not
even Deschapelles himself, although his biographer
declares he had told the lie so ofteu that he at last for
got the facts of the case. But the story about Morphy
beats the Deschapelles story in the proportion of thirty
to ten. I sorrowfully confess that my hero's unromantic
regard for truth makes him characterize the above
statement as a humbug and an impossibility.
Paul's genius for Chess was, very properly, not
permitted to interfere with his educational pursuits.
At college (in South Carolina) until eighteen years
of age, he had but little time for indulgence in his
favorite game, nor did he find any one capable of
contending with him. When the vacations allowed of
his playing against such adepts as his father and uncle,
or such well-known paladins as Mr. Ernest Rousseau,
of New Orleans, and Judge Meek, of Alabama, he soon
showed himself superior to all antagonists. In the
moephy's first games. 3
autumn of 1849, Herr Lowenthal, the celebrated Hun
garian player, visited the Crescent City, and out ot
three games against the young Paul, then but twelve
years old, he lost two and drew one. It is but reason
able to suppose that the desire of atoning for this
defeat had something to do with Herr
challenging his youthful victor, on his arrival last y
in Europe.
.»
/
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST AMERICAN CIIESS CONGRESS.
A circuiar was issued by the New York -Chess
Club, in the month of April, 1857, " for the purpose of
ascertaining the feasibility and propriety of a general
assemblage of the chess players resident in America."
This " met with a hearty and zealous response from the
amateurs and clubs of the United States. So favorable
was the feeling everywhere manifested, that it was
deemed advisable to proceed with the undertaking,
and to complete at once the preliminary arrange
ments."* In consideration of the movement having
been initiated by the New York Chess Club, it was
conceded that the meeting should take place in that
city.
Some of the founders of the New York Chess
Club still live to do honor to the game. I believe that
Mr. James Thompson and Colonel Mead suckled the
bantling in times of yore, sometimes forming the entire
of the Club without assistance. In that day of small
* Prospectus of " The National Chess Congress."
FIRST AMERICAN CHESS CONGRESS. 5
things, I believe, too, they defeated the Norfolk (Va.)
Club, proving themselves just two too many for their
opponents. Then they travelled about from house to
house, as their members increased, with the arrival of
Mr. Charles H. Stanley, Mr. Frederick Perrin, and
others. About 1855 or 1856, the Club made the acqui
sition of two enterprising young players, Mr. Theodore
Lichtenhein and Mr. Daniel W. Fiske ; and to the
latter gentleman is due the credit of first suggesting
this Chess Congress, which made known to fame the
genius of Paul Morphy. .
In the summer of 1857, being then engaged on the
New York Herald, I used occasionally to tumble into
the basement of an edifice opposite the newspaper
office, where a jolly, fat German, with a never-to-be-
remembered name, regaled his visitors upon sausages
and " lager." Here the members of the Chess Club
were wont to congregate; for the landlord had pro
vided chessmen and boards as an inducement to
visitors.
One afternoon being engaged in a game with a
brother reporter, a gentleman, whom I subsequently
learned was Mr. Theodore Lichtenhein, stepped up to
us, and put into our hands the prospectus of the ap
proaching Chess Congress, stating his opinion that an
event of so much importance merited newspaper pub
licity. So began my acquaintance with American chess
amateurs. Although possessing but little skill as a
player, I had a strong liking for the game, and de
6 PAUL MOEPHY.
termined that every thing in my power should be done
to render the meeting successful.
My visits to the saloon, and eventually to the Club,
became frequent, and the Committee of Management,
finding that I both could and would work, did me the
honor of appointing me one of the secretaries.
The Congress was advertised to open on the 6th of
October, but players began to arrive some weeks pre
viously. First of all came Judge Meek, of Alabama,
a truly imposing specimen of a man. Soon after him
followed Mr. Louis Paulsen, from Dubuque, Iowa,
whose astonishing blindfold feats out West were the
theme of general talk, and almost total disbelief,
amongst Eastern players. From Judge Meek we first
heard of Paul Morphy's wondrous strength. He told
the New York Club that if the youthful Louisianian
entered the tournament, he would infallibly wrest the
palm of victory from all competition.
We were much afraid, nevertheless, that Mr. Mor-
phy would be unable to quit his legal studies for the
purpose of attending the Congress, but when Mr.
Fiske announced the receipt of a telegraphic despatch,
which stated that he was en route, everybody hailed
the news with satisfaction. Mr. Paulsen now came to
the support of Judge Meek, and declared that Paul
Morphy would carry off the first prize in the tourna
ment ; giving, as the grounds of his opinion, some two
or three published games of the young Louisianian,
which he considered worthy to rank with the finest
FIEST AMERICAN CHESS CONGRESS. 7
master-pieces of chess strategy. Benignant fate brought
the young hero safely to New York, some two days
before the assembling of the Congress.
Who that was present that evening does not re
member Paul Morphy's first appearance at the New
York Chess Club? The secretary, Mr. Frederick
Perrin, valorously offered to be his first antagonist, and
presented about the same resistance as a musquito to
an avalanche. Then who should enter the room but
the warrior Stanley, tomahawk in one hand and the
scalps of Schulten and Rousseau in the other. Loud
cries were made for " Stanley ! Stanley ! " and Mr.
Perrin resigned his seat to the new comer, in deference
to so general a request. Thus commenced a contest,
or rather a succession of contests, in which Mr. Stanley
was indeed astonished. " Mate " followed upon
" mate," until he arose from his chair in bewildered
defeat.
The following day, the assembled delegates and
amateurs from the various clubs, organized the Con
gress by the election of a president, in the person of
Judge Meek, with Mr. Fiske as secretary, four assist
ant secretaries, marshals, treasurer, etc. All these
matters of detail, as well as the games played, the laws
passed, etc., etc., will eventually appear in the long
looked for " Book of the Congress," forthcoming with
the completion of the " British Museum Catalogue."
In the absence of the " Book of the Congress," I
must give a slight sketch of its proceedings, in order to
8 PAUL MOEPIIY.
trace the career of Paul Morphy ab initio. After
taking possession of the magnificent hall which the
New York Committee of Management had chosen for
the meeting, the sixteen contestants in the Grand
Tournament, proceeded to pair themselves off by lot.
Never was . fate more propitious than on this occasion
in coupling the antagonists. It is obvious, that how
ever apparently equal in strength two opponents may
be, one will prove stronger than the other. This is an
axiom requiring no proof. Out of sixteen, one is better
than the rest, and one out of the remaining fifteen is
stronger than the fourteen others. The latter player
may be drawn in the first round of the tournay with
the former, and though he stand incomparably the
superior of all but one, ho loses every chance of a prize
by being put immediately hors du combat.
Amongst the sixteen players who entered the lists,
two were unmistakably the strongest, namely, Messrs.
Morphy and Paulsen ; and much fear was manifested
lest they might be drawn together, in the first round.
Such, however, was not the case. Mr. Paulsen was
coupled with Mr. Dennis Julien, the well-known prob
lem maker, and a gentleman whose hospitality to chess
players scarcely requires praise from me. Mr. Julien
had allowed his name to be entered in the Grand Tour
nament in the absence of the representative of Connec
ticut, Mr. S. R. Calthrop, but the latter player arriving
shortly after, Mr. Julien was but too happy to resign in
his favor. Mr. Morphy's antagonist was Mr. James
FIRST AMERICAN CONGRESS. 9
Thompson, of New York, a gentleman who finished his
chess education at the Cafe de la Regencc, and the
London Chess Divan, noted for the brilliancy and
daring of his attack, and his pertinacity in playing the
Evans' Gambit wherever he has a chance. If Mr.
Thompson had not been pitted against such a terrible
opponent, in the first round, he would have tested the
powers of some of the other players.
Mr. Morphy's second opponent was Judge Meek.
As they took their seats opposite each other, one
thought of David and Goliath; not that the Judge
gasconaded in any wise after the fashion of the tall
Philistine, for modesty adorns all his actions ; but
there was as much difference in cubic contents between
the two antagonists, as between the son of Jesse and
the bully of Gath, and in both cases the little one came
out biggest. Judge Meek sat down with an evident
conviction of the result, and although he assured his
youthful opponent, that if he continued mating him
without ever allowing him the least chance, he would
put him in his pocket, he consoled himself with the re
flection that Paul Morphy would serve everybody else
as he served him.
Hitherto our hero had won every game. In the third
round he encountered the strongest player of the New
York Club, Mr. Theodore Lichtenhein, a gentleman
who had formerly been President of the Circle des
Echecs at Konigsburg in Prussia, and an admirable
exponent of the Berlin school of play. Mr. Lichten-
1*
10 PAUL MOEPHY.
hein eventually carried off the third prize in the tour
nament, and although he did not win any game from
Mr. Morphy, he succeeded in effecting "a draw,"
which, against such a terrible enemy, is almost worthy
of being esteemed a victory.
Mr. Paulsen had also been successful in the first and
second rounds without losing or drawing a single game,
and, as if to keep even with his great rival, he, too, had
made " a draw " in the third section of the tourna
ment—with Dr. Raphael, of Kentucky. Now was to
be decided the championship of the New World, and
notwithstanding that the majority anticipated the result,
yet many of the spectators thought that the Western
knight might prove a hard nut for Morphy to crack.
Mr. Paulsen's game is steady and analytical to a nicety.
Modelling his operations on profound acquaintance with
Philidor, he makes as much out of his Pawns as most
others of their Pieces. In reply to Mons. de Riviere,
I once heard Morphy say, " Mr. Paulsen never makes
an oversight; I sometimes do."
It is only justice to Mr. Paulsen to state, that he
never for one moment imagined that he would beat
Mr. Morphy. So exalted was his appreciation of the
latter's wondrous powers of combination, that he has
been frequently heard to declare—" If Anderssen and
Staunton were here, they would stand no chance with
Paul Morphy ; and he would beat Philidor and Labour-
donnais too, if they were alive." And when, after the
termination of the Congress, Mr. Morphy offered Pawn
FIRST AMERICAN CONGRESS. 11
and Move to all and every player in America, Mr.
Paulsen declared that he could easily give those odds
to him. But this invariable confession of inferiority
did not at all interfere with his doing the utmost to
become victor, although supremacy was only to be de
cided by one player scoring five games. If I recollect
rightly, it was in the third game that Mr. Morphy com
mitted an error, which spoiled one of the finest combi
nations ever seen on a chess-board. This combination
consisted of some eighteen or twenty moves, and its
starting point MTas one of those daring sacrifices which
European players dignify with the title " a la Morphy."
Certain of the inevitable result, (humanum est erraret
almost loses its signification when applied to his com
binations,) our hero played rapidly, and misplaced a
move. The result was, loss of attack and a piece, and
•apparently of the game ; the most ardent admirer of
Paul Morphy believed it was impossible for him to
avoid defeat. But though angry with himself for his
carelessness, he was not disheartened, but set to work
with courage, and effected " a draw." The latter part
of this game is a masterpiece of perseverance and
strategy. The result of the tournament is well known.
Mr. Morphy won five games, drew one, and lost one in
the concluding section—only one battle lost during the
entire campaign. The annals of chess do not furnish a
similar victory.
CHAPTER III.
MOEPHY PREPARES TO STAET FOK EUEOPE.
AKErvnra in Europe three months before Mr. Mor-
phy, I was in some sort,—not from any consent or
knowledge on his part, his avant courier ; and the fact
of my having been one of the Secretaries at the New
York Chess Congress, joined to my acquaintance with
him, aflbrded me the opportunity of conversing fre
quently with prominent English players in reference to-
this new meteor in the chess firmament.
Shortly after my arrival in London, I called upon
the Secretary of the St. George's Chess Club, Thomas
Hampton, Esq., and introduced myself to him. Chess
is a bond of brotherhood amongst all lovers of the
noble game, as perfect as free masonry. It is a leveller
of rank—title, wealth, nationality, politics, religion—
all are forgotten across the board. Every chess player
recognizes this, and none more so than Mr. Hampton,
who gave me the warmest of welcomes. He told me
that every Saturday there was a full attendance ot
members, and kindly invited me to visit the club on
MOETHY TEEPAEES TO STAET FOE EUEOPE. 13
that day, promising to introduce me to Mr. Staunton.
I was but too happy to accept this invitation, being
desirous of learning how for the prowess of Paul Mor-
phy was appreciated by one so eminent in the chess
world.
My acquaintance with the young American was a
passport of general interest to all present on the follow
ing Saturday. In addition to Mr. Staunton, I met there
Herr Falkbeer, Messrs. Barnes, Bird, "Alter," and
other luminaries, and many were the questions asked
in reference to Mr. Morphy. But I am bound to say
that the feeling with which he was regarded in the
United States was not participated in by English
players. I was told by one gentleman—" Mr. Morphy's
games are very pretty, but they will not bear the test
of analysis." Another said—and his opinion was uni
versally endorsed—"It is quite possible that Mr. Mor
phy may arrive at the highest rank, nay, even that he
may become a second Labourdonnais, but he cannot
have the strength his admiring countrymen wish to
believe. Chess requires many long years of attentive
study, and frequent play with the best players, and
neither of these your friend has had. Depend upon it
he will find European amateurs very different opponents
from those he has hitherto encountered." This rather
nettled me, but it was reasonable and just. Any one
possessing the slightest acquaintance with the game
knows that it partakes more of hard, laborious applica
tion to arrive at first-rate skill, than of mere pastime.
14 PAUL MORPHY.
Very few of Morphy's games had been seen in Europe,
and his opponents were not, certainly, of a class to
rank with the Stauntons, Lowenthals, and Anderssens
of the Old World. Was it reasonable to suppose that
a youth, just out of his teens, who had devoted but
little time to chess, and who was about to meet first-rate
players for the first time, should possess the experience
and lore of men double his age ? At the present time,
now that he has unmistakably proved himself the
superior of all living players, I feel utterly at a loss to
solve the problem of his skill. At college, until
eighteen years old, what time could he find there, ex
cept out of school hours, for the required practice, and
what antagonists worthy of him ? From eighteen to
twenty, he was engaged in reading for the bar. Dur
ing that period he was as frequent a visitor at the
chess club as circumstances would permit, but certainly
not sufficiently so to increase his strength. Who were
his antagonists ? His father had almost entirely aban
doned chess ; Mr. Ernest Morphy had settled in " the
West," and Mr. Rousseau, absorbed in the sterner
duties of life, held the same relation to the game as
Mr. Lewis in England. To one and all of his oppo
nents, except these gentlemen, he could give the rook ;
and playing at odds is somewhat different from con
tending with even players. He met strong players for
the first time at New York. Paulsen, Lichtenhein,
Thompson, Montgomery, Marache were all northern
players, and new to him, and vastly superior to the an
MOEPHY PEEPAEES TO STAET FOE ET/EOPE. 15
tagonists he had previously encountered. There is but
one way to account for his annihilation of all precedent.
His skill is intuitive, and I doubt much whether his
prodigious memory has been of assistance to him. In
answer to a gentleman in Paris as to whether he had
not studied many works on chess, I heard him state
that no author had been of much value to him, and that
he was astonished at finding various positions and solu
tions given as novel—certain moves producing certain
results, etc., for that he had made the same deductions
himself, as necessary consequetices. In like manner,
Newton demonstrated, in his own mind, the prob
lems of Euclid, the enunciations only being given ; and
I can think of no more suitable epithet for Morphy than
to call him " the Newton of Chess."
But revenons a nos moutons. Morphy's achieve
ments at the Congress in New York induced many to
believe that America now possessed a champion capable
of contending with the proficients of Europe, and it
was proposed that he should be backed by the Ameri
can Chess Association against any player who would
take up the challenge. I am sorry to say that the
action of certain prominent men prevented the gauntlet
being thrown down. These gentlemen said, " He beats
us because he is better versed in the openings, but
such players as Lowenthal and Harrwitz will be too
strong for him. He wants experience, and were we
to make this national challenge, we should appear
ridiculous when our champion is defeated, which he
10 PAUL MORPHY.
certainly would be." The proposal, however, got
noised abroad, and the following paragraph appeared,
in consequence, in the Illustrated London News :
" CHALLENGE TO EUROPEAN CHESS PLAYEES.*
" The American Chess Association, it is reported,
are about to challenge any player in Europe to contest
a match with the young victor in the late passage at
arms, for from $2,000 to $5,000 a side, the place of
meeting being New York. If the battle-ground were
to be London or Paris, there can be little doubt, we
apprehend, that a European champion would be found ;
but the best players in Europe are not chess profes
sionals, but have other and more serious avocation^, the
interests of which forbid such an expenditure of time
as is required for a voyage to the United States and
back again."
I would say, by way of parenthesis, that such a
being as a professional chess player does not exist in
the United States. Paulsen is a tobacco broker, with
tendencies to speculating in " corner lots." (Western
men know what that means.) Lichtenhein deals in dry-
goods, dry wines and Italian opera ; Thompson is the
proprietor of a magnificent restaurant ; Colonel Mead
devotes himself to democratic cabals at the New York
Hotel ; Fiske is an admixture of the Chess Monthly,
* Illustrated London Notts, December 26th, 185T.
M0BPHY PEEPABES TO STAET FOE EUBOPE. 11
the Astor Library and Scandinavian literature ; Perrin
and Marache are bothered daily with banks, " bears "
and " bulls." Chess professionals, indeed ! they do not
grow in the United States.
Mr. Morphy returned to his native city without
any further action having been taken, but the New
Orleans Chess Club determined that the challenge
should be made, and they addressed the following
letter to Mr. Staunton, at the commencement of last
year :
New Orleans, February 4, 1858.
Howard Staunton, Esq.,
Sir,—On behalf of the New Orleans Chess Club,
and in compliance with the instructions of that body,
we, the undersigned committee, have the honor to in
vite you to visit our city, and there meet Mr. Paul
Morphy in a chess match. In transmitting this invita
tion, permit us to observe, that we are prompted no
less by the desire to becomo personally acquainted with
one whom we have so long admired, than by the very
natural anxiety to ascertain the strength of our Amer
ican players by the decisive criterion of actual conflict
over the board.
We can see no valid reason why an exercise so in
tellectual and ennobling as chess, should be excluded
from the generous rivalry which exists between the
Old and the New World, in all branches of human
knowledge and industry. That the spirit of emulation
18 PAUL MOEPHY.
from which this rivalry arises has not, hitherto, been
made to embrace our chivalrous game, may be mainly
ascribed to the fact that, although the general attention
paid to chess in the United States during the last fif
teen years has produced a number of fine players, yet
their relative force remained undetermined, and none
could assert an indisputable right to pre-eminence.
The late Chess Congress has, however, removed this
obstacle, by finally settling the claims of the several as
pirants to the championship ; and it must now be a
matter of general desire to fix, by actual contest with
the best European amateurs, the rank which American
players shall hold in the hierarchy of chess.
For this purpose it was suggested that Mr. Morphy,
the winner at the late Congress and the present Amer- *
ican champion, should cross the ocean, and boldly en
counter the distinguished magnates of the transatlantic
chess circles ; but it unfortunately happens that serious
family reasons forbid Mr. Morphy, for the present, to
entertain the thought of visiting Europe. It, there
fore, becomes necessary to arrange, if possible, a meet
ing between the latter and the acknowledged Euro
pean champion, in regard to whom there can be no
scope for choice or hesitation—the common voice of
the chess world pronounces your name ; and to us it is
a subject of congratulation that the sceptre of transat
lantic chess is wielded by one who, with respect to
regularity of communication between the two coun
tries, and for other reasons, enjoys facilities for accept-
M0EPHY PEEPAEES TO 6TAET FOE ETTEOPE. 19
ing our invitation possessed by no other European
player.
We take the liberty herewith to inclose a series of
proposed "terms of the match," which has been drawn
up, not for the purpose of imposing conditions, but with
a view to obviate the necessity of repeated correspond
ence. We have been studious to make these terms as
equitable as possible, and to include all matters upon
which contestation was likely to arise. You are re
spectfully invited to suggest any alterations which you
may deem advisable, not only in the minor points em
braced, but also as to the amount of the stakes, the
time fixed for the commencement ofthe match, &c., &c.
Fully subscribing to the wisdom of the proposal
made by you in the introduction to the " Book of the
Tournament," we beg leave to express our entire wil
lingness to insert a clause providing that " one-half at
least " (or even aU) " of the games shall be open ones."
In conclusion, Sir, receive the assurance that it will
afford us extreme pleasure to welcome among us a gen
tleman, who is as greatly admired for his powers in
play as he is esteemed for his many and valuable con
tributions to the literature of chess.
Hoping soon to receive a favorable answer, we re
main, with distinguished regard, your obedient ser
vants,
E. W. Halsey, Chas. A. Maueian, Je.
Feancis Michinaed. P. E. Bonfobd,
E. Pandely.
20 PAUL MOEPHY.
TEEMS OF THE MATCH.
1. The amount of the stakes, on each side, to be five
, thousand dollars, and the winner of the first eleven
games to be declared the victor, and entitled to the
stakes.
2. The match to be played in the city of New Or
leans.
3. Should the English player lose the match, the
sum of one thousand dollars (£200) to be paid to him
out of the stakes, in reimbursement of the expenses
incurred bj him in accepting this challenge.
4. The games to be conducted in accordance with
the rules laid down in Mr. Staunton's " Chess Player's
Handbook." ,
5. The parties to play with Staunton chessmen oi
the usual club-size, and on a board of corresponding
dimensions.
6. The match to be commenced on or about the
first of May, 1858, (or on any other day during the
present year most agreeable to Mr. Staunton.) and to
be continued at not less than four sittings each week.
1. In order that the stay of the English player in
New Orleans be not unnecessarily prolonged, he shall
have the right to fix the hours of play at from ten
o'clock, a. m., to two, p. m., and from six to ten o'clock,
P. M.
8. The time occupied in deliberating on any move,
shall not exceed thirty minutes.
MOEPHY rEEPAEES TO STABT FOB EUBOPE. 21
9. The right to publish the games is reserved cxclu
sively to the contestants, subject only to such private
arrangements as they may agree upon.
10. The stakes on the part of Mr. Staunton to be
deposited prior to the commencement of the match in
the hands of ; and those on the part of Mr.
Morphy, in the hands of Eugene Rousseau, Esq., cashier
of the Citizen's Bank of Louisiana.
On the 3d of April, Mr. Staunton replied to this
very flattering communication as follows, through the
" Illustrated London News : "—
" Proposed Chess Match between England and
America foeOneThousand Pounds a Side.—We have
been favored with a copy of the defi which the friends
of Mr. Paul Morphy, the chess champion of the United
States, have transmitted to Mr. Staunton. The terms
of th'is cartel are distinguished by extreme courtesy,
and with one notable exception, by extreme liberality
also. The exception in question, however, (we refer to
the clause which stipulates that the combat shall take
place in New Orleans !) appears to us utterly fatal to
the match ; and we must confess our astonishment that
the intelligent gentlemen who drew up the conditions
did not themselves discover this. Could it possibly
escape their penetration, that if Mr. Paul Morphy, a
young gentleman without family ties or professional
22 PAUL MOEPHY.
f
claims upon his attention, finds it inconvenient to anti
cipate, by a few months, an intended voyage to Europe,
his proposed antagonist, who is well known for years to
have been compelled, by laborious literary occupation,
to abandon the practice of chess beyond the indulgence
of an occasional game, must find it not merely incon
venient, but positively impracticable, to cast aside all
engagements, and undertake a journey of many thou
sand miles for the sake of a chess-encounter ? Surely
the idea of such a sacrifice is not admissible for a single
moment. If Mr. Morphy—for whose skill we enter
tain the liveliest admiration—be desirous to win his
spurs among the chess chivalry of Europe, he must
take advantage of his purposed visit next year ; he will
then meet in this country, in France, in Germany, and
in Russia, many champions whose names must be as
household words to him, ready to test and do honor to
his prowess." '
Can this mean aught else than, " Come over to
England and I will play you ? "
CHAPTER IV.
CHESS IN ENGLAND.
Most of us know how " Box," when called upon by
" Cox," to give explanations of the improper attentions
he (Box) was paying to C.'s wife, hums and haws and
begins, " Towards the close of the sixteenth century ; "
when Cox very properly cries out, " What the deuce
has the sixteenth century to do with my wife ? "
Many of my readers may, like Cox, want to know what
a great deal my book contains has to do with Paul
Morphy ; all I have to say, in reply, is,—if you don't
like it, skip it; more especially the following thirty
pages, which, nevertheless, will be interesting to all
chess-players.
Chess seems to have first acquired social impor
tance in England during Philidor's residence in that
country. Judging from the number of titled names
attached to his work as subscribers, the British aris
tocracy were, in his time, much given to the game, but
" nous avons change tout cela," and the English nobility
24 PAUL MOEPHT.
nowadays, with but a few notable exceptions, confine
their abilities to " Tattersall's " and "Aunt Sally."
" What a fall was there, my countrymen ! ''
Surely the " King of Games," which has enlisted
amongst its votaries such names as that of the victor
of Culloden, and his rival, Marechal Saxe ; without
enumerating those of all the greatest warriors of many
centuries, might still offer inducements to their com
paratively unknown descendants. We have thousands
of men, composing the British aristocracy, at a loss to
get rid of their time ; sauntering down to their clubs at
mid-day ; listlessly turning over the leaves of magazines
and reviews, until their dinner-hour arrives. Why, in
the name of common sense, do not these men learn
something of chess, and thus provide themselves with
a pastime which not merely hasten's lime's chariot-
wheels, but quickens the intellect ? One gets tired of
billiards, cards, horse-racing, etc., but your chessplayer
becomes more enamored of his game, the more he
knows of it.
It may have been that gentlemen and nobles affixed
their names to Philidor's book, out of compliment or
charity, but it is doubtful whether their descendants
would now do so, even from those considerations.
Must we measure the capacity of dukes and lords by
that intellectual standard, " Aunt Sally ? "
Philidor certainly did much for chess, particularly
• in England. He possessed peculiar advantages for so
doing. In he first place he had true talent ; his powers
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 25
for playing blindfold excited extraordinary interest at
the time, not merely amongst chess players, but espe
cially with the titled crowd. His political antecedents
increased the general interest, and, last and best of all,
he was a foreigner. If Philidor had been an English
man he would hardly have sold a copy of his book.
Philidor organized a chess club in London, which
met at Parsloe's Coffee House, St. James street. At
the present day little is known of that early associa
tion, and we cannot even tell whether the members
were numerous. After his death, chess seems to have
languished; Parsloe's club dragged on its existence
during some years, dying from inanition about 1825.
The London Chess Club, first organized in 1807, kept
alive the sacred fire ; but that was the only community
in England during the first quarter of this century
where the game was publicly played. Some years
after the establishment of the London, the Edinburgh
Chess Club started into existence. In 1833, a great
impetus was given to the game by the commencement
of a weekly chess article in the columns of " Bell's Life
in London." Amateurs now had an organ which could
record their achievements; men hitherto unknown
beyond their private circles felt, that the opportunity
was afforded them to become famous throughout the
country, and provincial clubs started up here and there.
Chess playerscannot but regard that paper as a very
nursing mother for Caissa, and certainly never hear it
mentioned but their thoughts revert to the veteran—
3
26 PAUL MOEPHT.
George Walker. I once heard that gentleman relate
the following anecdote as a proof of how little was
known of chess, in England, previous to the year 1833.
Travelling towards the north somewhere about that
period, he put up one night at a hotel in Stratford-upon-
Avon. Now any man with music or poetry in his soul,
would, under such circumstances, wander towards the
home of Shakspeare, or to his last resting-place ; pro
vided always that fear of rheumatism, or influenza, did
not render him regardful of the rain which then fell
"like cats and dogs." How to pass the evening was
the question. Only one other traveller in the coffee-
room, and he as uncommunicative as Englishmen pro
verbially are. Mr. Walker did not feel like going to
bed at seven o'clock in the evening, and the idea of
throwing out "a feeler" struck him as interesting.
" Did Traveller play chess ? " Traveller did. " Would
he have a game?" Yes, he would. The waiter is
thereupon summoned, and ordered to bring in a set of
chessmen. Waiter, strongly suspicious that Mr.
Walker means skittles, finally awaked to consciousness,
and, with a smile of triumph, produces a backgammon
board.
The very idea of an opponent obliterated all fear
of the weather in Mr. Walker's breast, and he sallied
forth in quest of the desired pieces. Toyshops, libra
ries, etc., were entered, but the proprietors scarcely un
derstood what was asked of them, and Mr. W. finally
returned to the inn to dispatch " Boots " to the solici
CHESS IN ENGLAND.
tor, doctor, and neighboring gentry—but all to no pur
pose. Thereupon mine host suggested a note to the
parson, but that individual having just rendered him
self famous for all time by cutting down Shakspeare's
mulberry tree, Mr. Walker replied that such a man
could not possibly know anything of the game, and it
would be useless to send to him. So the two travellers
were forced to console themselves with the intricacies
of draughts.
After the death of Philidor, the strongest players
were Sarratt, De Bourblanc, Lewis and Parkinson.
Sarratt and Mr. Lewis may be looked upon as chess
professors. We all know the story of the former's
playing with the great Napoleon, and the struggle
between pride and courtesy (very silly courtesy, in
deed!) finally overcome by Sarratt's drawing every
game. This could not have been a satisfactory result
to the " Little Corporal," for he never seemed partial
to leaving things in statu quo ante helium. Sarratt
was a schoolmaster, Parkinson an architect, and Mr.
Lewis commenced life as a merchant's clerk, and event
ually embarked in the manufacture of piano fortes.
This information has nothing whatever to do with the
reputation of the above gentlemen, as successors of
Philidor, and I only mention it because chess players,
like other men, are not adverse to hearing what does
not concern them.
The continental blockade and long wars with Na
poleon, isolated England from the rest of the world,
28 PAUL MOEPHY.
and completed the decay and fall of chess for a time.
But the game did not languish in France and Germany.
About 1820, the Holy Alliance (of Sovereigns against the
people) began playing its pranks : proscribed fugitives,
martyrs to liberty—soi disant and otherwise—came
over to England in shoals, and amongst them were to
be found thorough adepts in the mysteries of chess.
These refugees rekindled the fire in Britain. They
brought with them new and unknown German and
Italian works, and made Englishmen acquainted with
far more extended information than could be found in
Philidor's meagre work.
Before we enter on the new era of chess, I may add
for the benefit of such of my readers as are not " up "
in its history, that Lewis was the pupil of Sarratt,
and McDonnel the pupil of Lewis. It is difficult, from
the paucity of existing data, to judge of the strength
of former players as compared with modern examples.
Mr. Lewis had been accustomed at one time to give
McDonnel pawn and two; but, when these odds be
came too heavy, he declined playing longer, and may
be considered to have retired from the arena. Mr.
Walker thinks that, in their best play, Messrs. Sarratt
and Lewis were a pawn below Morphy, and he ranks
the latter with Labourdonnais and McDonnel, stating
his belief that the two latter would have played up to
a much higher standard if provoked by defeat. For
my own part, I think it is indisputable that the reputa
tion of these two players is, at this day, entirely based
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 29
on their eighty published games, and when Herr
Lowenthal's much looked-for collection of Morphy's
contests is published, we shall then be enabled to judge
of the American's strength, as compared with those
celebrated masters.
The influx of foreigners into London was intro
ductory to the establishment of numerous chess circles
in different coffee houses. Hundreds of "exiled
patriots," bearded Poles and Italians, congregated to
gether to smoke and play chess, and soon infused a
general passion for the game amongst the Londoners.
The first room specially devoted to chess, of which we
have any account, was one opened by Mr. Gliddon, and
this led to the establishment of the London Chess
T^i Yfl,il
THE LONDON CHESS DIVAN.
What chess player has not heard of the far-famed
resort of the devotees of Caissa ? The Cafe de la Re-
gence may be the Mecca of chess, but the Divan is in
disputably its Medina. Chess Clubs have risen and
fallen, and the fortunes of the survivors have waxed or
waned ; but the Divan flourishes in spring-tide glory,
the Forum Momanum for players of every clime and
strength. Now my readers must not suppose that I
am about to attempt a history of the " Divan in the
Strand," as the Cockneys call it; for I should then
have to write the history of modern European chess.
I merely intend a sketch, from which they will learn
30 * ' PAUL MOEPHY.
i
with how much reverence that classic spot is to be re
garded.
Somewhere about the year 1820, a tobacconist,
named Gliddon, opened a room in the rear of his shop,
King Street, Covent Garden, which he fitted up in
Oriental style, and supplied with papers, chess periodi
cals and chess-boards, calling the establishment " Glid-
don's Divan." Amongst his patrons was a Mr. Bern-
hard Ries, who soon perceived that there was room in
London for a similar undertaking on a much larger
scale. He accordingly opened a grand chess saloon in
the building now occupied by the Divan. This was so
far back as 1828. It was, at first, on the ground-floor,
in the room known as Simpson's Restaurant, but when
Mr. Ries gave up the establishment to his brother, the
present proprietor, in 1836, that gentleman transferred
the Divan to the vast saloon up stairs. In 1838, Mr.
Ries (No. 2) found the Westminster Chess Club suffer
ing from paralysis, its sinews (of war) being grievously
affected. He purchased the good-will and furniture of
the club, giving the members private rooms on the
first floor of his house for their exclusive use. The
boards and men now in use at the Divan were made
expressly for the Westminster Club when first estab
lished. The members in their new locale soon found
that whilst some twenty boards would be going in the
public room, the game languished with them ; and in
the course of two years the club broke up and became
absorbed in the Divan. This will invariably be the
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 31
case when a private and exclusive chess association
holds its meetings contiguous to a public resort devot
ed to the same game. During the past year, the Paris
Cercle des Echecs, which met in rooms over the Cafe
de la Regence, found that the influence of the arena
down stairs was too great for them, and they broke up
their meetings, and are now to be found en masse in
the public cafe.
In 1842 Mr. Ries invited Labourdonnais to come
over from Paris, and play exclusively at the Divan,
which offer that great master accepted. But his con
stitution was already shattered, and the malady which
eventually carried him off interfered with his devoting
much time to chess, and no matches of importance
were played by him during the period. It was next
door to the Divan, at No. 6 Beaufort Buildings, in
rooms taken for him by Mr. Ries, that Labourdonnais
finally succumbed to that terrible antagonist who,
whatever the opening may be, brings the game of fife
to one inevitable ending—death !
Who, known to fame in chess during the past quar
ter of a century, has not assisted in making the Divan
classic ground? Of bygone palladins we might in
stance Popard, Fraser, Zenn, Daniels, Alexander, Wil
liams, Perigal, and a host of others, never for a mo
ment forgetting Labourdonnais and Kieseritzky. The
veterans Lewis and Walker made it a place of constant
resort before they withdrew from the chess arena.
In the Divan, Staunton rose from a Knight-player to a
32 PAUL MOEPHY.
first rate. -St. Arnaud, Anderssen, Harrwitz, Horwitz,
Kling,—in fact all the great living celebrities—make it
their house of call when in London, whilst the brilliant
corps cPMite composing the phalanx of English players
—Lowenthal, Boden, Barnes, Bird, Lowe, Falkbeer,
Wormald, Campbell, Zytogorsky, Brien, &c, &c, may
frequently be found there, ready to meet all antago
nists. When Mr. Buckle casts a "longing, lingering
look behind" at his first love, he offers homage to
Caissa at the Divan. But we must stop, or we shall
fain run through the whole list of living players.
In the room are busts of Lewis, Philidor, Labour-
donnais, and other vieux de la vielle, and the library is
replete with all the chief works on chess. From noon
to midnight, players of every shade of strength are to
be met with ;—amateurs who learned the moves last
week ; professors who analyze openings, adepts invent
ing new defences, and editors who prove satisfactorily
that the winner ought to have lost and the vanquished
to have gained. [JSaldm to the Divan ! May it live a
thousand years !]
*********
The Divan has certainly done much to spread a
liking for the game amongst the masses ; but, at the
same time, it has somewhat interfered with the forma
tion of a flourishing West End Chess Club. There is
no city in the world in which so much chess is played
as London, and the British metropolis should certainly
show, at least, one club numbering from 500 to 1,000
CHESS JS ENGLAND. S3
members. Club life is an institution peculiar to Eng
lishmen ; divan s, evenwhen so well managed as Ries's,
partake rather of the Gallic element, being of the genus
cafe. Your aristocratic Briton frequents not the public
saloon, preferring the otium cum dignitate of the pri
vate club. I am aware that chess in England is not
fostered by the upper ranks of society : its amateurs
are to be found mainly in the middle classes. Shop
men, clerks, professors of the arts, literary men, &c.,
form its rank and file. The majority of these, I speak
of them as Englishmen, object to a place of public re
sort from various reasons. Smoking displeases some,
and smoking is part and parcel of a divan. The Au
tomaton itself could not get on without its tchibouk.
All the advantages and none of the drawbacks of a
public hall, are to be obtained at a club ; especially when,
as at the St. George's, one room is set apart for smok
ing. Surely the late impulse given to chess by Paul
Morphy's European feats, will increase the members of
these chess associations, which are incontestably the
best schools for progress in the game.
About the year 1824, three or four young gentle
men who had recently learned chess, or rather the me
chanical part of it, and had been playing a good deal
together, made vain inquiries as to the existence of a
Chess Club at the West End of London, being desirous
of showing ofi" their abilities to new advantage. The
foremost of these ambitious juveniles was Mr. George
Walker, the eminent Chess writer, and an author, too,
3*
34 PAUL MOEPHY.
whose never failing bonhommie is worthy of Lafon-
taine. Finding that " westward the star of empire "
and of chess had not, as yet, begun to " take its way,"
they resolved to have a Club of their own. Philidor's
Club could not be said to exist ; the flame was flicker
ing in some obscure corner, and the last member was
preparing to leave. But the sacred fire was not to die
out :—George Walker and his fellow youngsters built
an altar for it at the Percy Coffee-House in Rathbone
Place, Oxford Street, and blew the flame into a perfect
blaze. Percy's Coffee-House was then a first-rate hotel :
Belgravia, Brompton, Pimlico, were corn-fields and
market-gardens, and the aristocracy had not emigrated
from the neighborhood of Oxford Street. The denizens
of that ilk might be supposed to find some leisure for
the enjoyment of such a pastime as chess, and Walker
and Co. soon enlisted upwards of a score of recruits.
Night after night the members played what they in
their innocence called chess, finishing the Monday even
ing with a supper, after which harmony and " the flow
ing bowl " prevailed. Things went on swimmingly in
this Mutual Admiration Society, until one of the mem
bers, Mr. Ferrier, of the War Office, upset the status
quo by bringing into their midst Mr. Murphy, the cel
ebrated ivory miniature painter, and father of Mrs.
Jamieson, the authoress. Dire was the result ; Mr.
Murphy proved a very Trojan horse in this West End
IHum : for, as Mr. Walker says, " he entirely dispelled
the illusion of the ' bold Percies ' that they had been
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 35
playing chess." He gave them one and all a Knight,
essayed the Gambit on every occasion, and not one of
the young gentlemen could make a stand against him.
As though not sufficiently humiliated, Mr. Murphy
introduced Mr. Lewis to them, and the new comer
completed their bewilderment by giving them the
Rook and sweeping them clean off the board. But
with such a master, the Percies, by dint of diligent
study and practice, rapidly improved, and it was sug
gested to Mr. Lewis that he should open a private club
at his own house. After a short delay this was accom
plished, and nearly all the members joined Mr. Lewis,
when he opened subscription rooms in St. Martin's
Lane—classic ground surely, for a former Chess Club
had lived and died at Slaughter's Coffee-House, hard by.
Mr. Lewis collected quite a number of players
around him, and was in fair way to find his enterprise
profitable ; but the most prominent members demurred
to his not playing with them so much as they desired,
more especially as Mr. Lewis did not appear to regard
the institution as a Free School for the inculcation of
Chess. The best of the young amateurs were Messrs.
Walker, Brand, Mercier and McDonnell ; the last, the
best of the lot. McDonnell received from Mr. Lewis
the odds of Pawn and Two Moves, but when he had
fairly surmounted that advantage and could win every
game, his antagonist declined playing on even terms,
much to McDonnell's disappointment. This, however,
appears to be the usual course with leading chess play
36 PAUL MOEPHY.
ers,—Deschappelle's conduct in regard to Labourdon-
nais being a notable example of the fact. There are
peculiar idiosyncrasies in chess human nature, as, for in
stance, the remarkable reserve and " don't-come-nigh-
me " feeling with which leading amateurs treat each
other. Go into any public or private chess association,
and you will find that the superior craft steer clear of
each other as a general thing ; reserving their antago
nism for matches few and far between.
The Club subsequently removed to the bottom of
St. Martin's Lane, and shortly broke up, McDonnell
and others returning to the London Club, whence they
had migrated. A futile attempt was afterwards made
to establish a grand aristocratic silk and satin club in
Waterloo Place, the door of admission to which could
only be opened with a golden key of ten guineas.
Here lots of every thing could be found except chess,
and no wonder, for the game does not find supporters,
to any extent, among the rich, depending mainly upon
individuals to whom ten guineas are a consideration.
The club expired in twelve months. Ca'issa thus lost
her last foothold at the West End, and Mr. Lewis
henceforth virtually abandoned the practice of chess.
The question has frequently been asked, whether
and how Mr. Lewis played Labourdonnais ? They
played together on three different occasions, in all
seven games, of which Labourdonnais won five and lost
two. The first time they met was at the house of Mr.
Domitt, Hon. Sec. of the London Club, and two All
CHESS IN ENGLAND.
gaier Gambits were played, each winning one. As
they had just done their duty to a very good dinner,
and society was then divided into two, three, and four
bottle men, Labourdonnais remarked, " The victory is
not likely to be gained by the better player, but by
him who carries his wine best." This reminds me of a
bon mot of Mr. Boden. Somebody remarked in his
presence that two amateurs (whose names to mention
" decency forbids ") were both drunk, though engaged
in a match game : he replied—" Then the best player
will win."
After the conclusion of the two games, Messrs. Mer-
cier, Bonfil and Domit, particular friends of the English
player, challenged Labourdonnais to play Mr. Lewis a
match of twenty-five games at £5 a game. This was
rather too bad, considering that Labourdonnais, to use
his own words, was " without a friend or a shilling in a
foreign country ; " but he laughed the challenge away
as a joke in his own witty manner, by saying that " in
such case he must be the best player who could offer
to play for the highest stake," a reply which so pleased
a gentleman present, Mr. Brand, that he cried out,
" Labourdonnais shall play Lewis a match of 25 games
at £10 a game, and I will find his stakes." It is stated
that Mr. Brand evinced considerable ill-feeling towards
Mr. Lewis, at the time, in consequence of the latter's
preferring a move recommended by Mr. Mercier in the
match then pending between the London and Edin
burgh clubs, to one proposed by himself, and perhaps
38 PAUL MOEPHT.
this was the reason for his offering to back the French
man against his own countryman. But Mr. Lewis's
friends did not accept the challenge, and the two
champions confined their contests to five off-hand
games, which were played at the residences of Messrs.
Bonfil and Mercier, Lewis winning one and Labour-
donnais four, so that the final result was :—
Labourdonnais, 5—Lewis, 2—Drawn, 0.
The above occurrences took place on the occasion
of Labourdonnais' first visit to London, many years be
fore his famous encounters with McDonnell.
About the year 1830, a gentleman of great parts
and education, named Huttmann, finding his share of
this world's loaves and fishes not precisely what he
could wish, opened a coffee house in Covent Garden.
His patrons belonged to what society calls the " upper
classes," for his prices were high and his refresh
ments first-rate ; two considerable attractions to men
of means. Amongst the frequenters of the rooms
were Mr. Henry Russell, the since celebrated singer ;
Captain Medwin (Byron's medium), and Mr. Mac-
kay, now Dr. Charles Mackay, the poet. Doctor
Mackay was in Uew York during the chess tourna
ment, and visited the rooms on that occasion, but
we were then unaware of his early acquaintance with
the game.
At Huttman's Coffee House, the habitu6s were
gentlemen in quest of quietness ; men of calm, reflect
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 39
ive turn, given to chit-chat in nooks and corners ; smok
ing a genuine " Havana " over a cup of unquestionable
" Mocha," and reading that everlasting refuge for an
Englishman, " The Times." Just the atmosphere for a
chess-board, and two or three were accordingly intro
duced. Now you can never get chess-boards into any
establishment, without the fact becoming immediately
known amongst amateurs. Mr. George Walker soon
got wind of the arrangement, and forthwith recon
noitred the lines. The result of his observations was
that he suggested the formation of a chess club in the
first floor rooms, and to this Mr. Huttmann assented.
Mr. Walker forthwith -began drumming about for re
cruits ; electing himself secretary, pro tern., he drew up
a set of rules, and got out printed circulars, and it was
not his fault if any person with whom ie claimed even
bowing acquaintance, escaped from the meshes of the
proposed club. Within a few days he had canvassed
all his earliest chess friends, and had rallied round the
standard of Caissa between twenty and thirty defend
ers. It was resolved to style the association
THE WESTMINSTER CLUB,
and Captain Medwin was elected the first president.
We are upon classic ground. Who does not re
member the feats performed within the walls of this
home of the glorious departed ? Who |Jiall forget the
oft-told wonders of that golden age of chess ? Any
thing related of the Westminster Club is swallowed
40 PAUL MOEPHTT.
with willing faith by gaping acolytes. Those were
glorious days, indeed, the Homeric age of zatrikiologi-
cal worthies ! Amongst the early supporters of the
Club were the Rev. Mr. D'Arblay, (son of Madame
D'Arblay,) Mr. Skelton, (so well known about town as
" Dandy Skelton,") Mr. Nixon, organist of the Bava
rian Catholic Church, in Warwick Street, Duncan
Forbes, Professor of Oriental languages at University
College, and many other celebrated literary characters.
The proprietor, Mr. Huttman, followed the enterprise
with spirit. Every cigar he sold in the coffee-room
was wrapt in a printed problem ; and, in addition, he
published a periodical penny miscellany on chess. Such
extraordinary exertions quickly bore fruit, and, in a
short time the Club rose to something like fifty mem
bers. The room in which the meetings were held be
came, in consequence, so hot, that it was deservedly
styled " the oven."
Emboldened by success, Mr. Huttman began to
look about for new and more commodious quarters;
these he eventually found on the opposite side of the
street. Certain gamblers had there taken a house, and
furnished the principal apartments in sumptuous style,
for the sole purpose of decoying thither a young for
eign nobleman, who, in one night, is said to have lost
there upwards of £30,000. The house having served
their diabolica^ ends, was of no further use to them,
and Mr. Huttman rented it. Here the Westminster
Club was enshrined. Amongst the chief supporters
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 41
were Mr. George Walker, Hon. Sec. ; Mr. B. Smith,
M. P. ; Albany Fonblanque, Esq., of The Examiner ;
Messrs. Perigal, Slous, Popert, McDonnel, and many
others from the London Club. In 1833, Labourdonnais
and McDonnel played their different matches at these
splendid rooms.
By the continued exertions of Mr. George Walker,
the number of members was increased to three hundred.
What a glorious muster-roll ! Why should the " old
days " not live again at the West End ? Surely the
ranks of chess players are not thinned, nor is their
strength diminished. Our Lowenthals, Bodens, Birds,
Stauntons, Barneses, Buckles, Wormalds, Palkbeers,
Briens, Zytogoroskys, Lowes, Hannahs, etc., etc.,
etc., are worthy descendants of West End men of the
olden time, without even enlisting the support of such
city magnates as the Mongredieus, Slouses, Medleys,
etc., of the ancient and virile London Club. Many
members of the Westminster still make love to the
nymph Ca'issa; such historical names as Slous and
Walker for instance. But, in addition to the above-
mentioned general officers, we now possess a constantly-
increasing rank and file, recruited from the chess-play
ing militia of schools and private families. Chess is
assuming vast proportions in England and America:
scarcely a weekly paper of any circulation but gives a
column to the game ; and certainly no newspaper editor
would do so if he did not find it pay. At the West
End of London, there now exist two clubs of impor
42 PAUL MOEPHY.
tance, the old St. George's and the new St. James's ;
the Philidorean Rooms in Rathbone Place partaking
rather of the divan character. Neither of these clubs
require proficiency in the game as a passport for mem
bership ; and a gentleman receiving the Queen would
be just as eligible as the amateur giving it. Surely the
advantages offered for increasing one's strength in this
intellectual struggle of mind against mind, should be
an inducement for young players to enroll themselves
in one or the other of these two associations.
When the Westminster had grown up into a goodly
body of three hundred members, Mr. George Walker
began to find that the duties of secretary were inter
fering seriously with his other pursuits, and he there
fore resigned the office, and was succeeded by Mr.
William Greenwood Walker, to whom the chess world
is so much indebted for taking down the games of Mc-
Donnel. The Club had arrived at its Augustine era,
and, in 1838, its fortunes began to wane; the proprie
tor getting into pecuniary difficulties. Mr. Huttman
coidd not let well alone. He introduced a daily dinner,
on plans so profoundly calculated, that the more per
sons who dined the more he lost. He got the Club,
also, into bad odor, by allowing chess to be played
there on Sundays. Musical soirees and other nonsense
followed ; the main object of the establishment thus
became ignored, and, instead of new members joining,
the old ones fell off one by one, and the princely man
sion in Bedford street was shortly to let. Mr. Hutt
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 43
man's pecuniary difficulties perilled the very existence
of the Club, notwithstanding that the members handed
over to him the reserve fund, amounting to a few
hundred pounds. No Club can be said to be in safety
without such a fund upon which to fall back in case of
emergency, as for instance, retirement of members.
Members of chess clubs will retire—prominent ones
even—a very frequent cause being marriage; the
backsliders, however, often come back eventually.
The Westminster Club being now without house or
home, looked about for some benevolent individual
who would " take them in and do for them." Such an
one they found in Mr. Ries, proprietor of the Divan in
the Strand, who offered them private rooms in his es
tablishment ; thither the dibris of the old Westminster
forthwith removed. Each member was provided with
a latch-key, with which to let himself in at the private
door. Here it was that Mr. Staunton appeared for the
first time in chess-circles, although he was never a
member of the Westminster Club. In its new quar
ters the association drew out an existence of twelve
months, giving up the ghost in 1840.
About this time, the veteran writer and encyclo
paedist, Alexandre, made a lamentable fiasco at his
Cafe de l'Echiquier in Paris ; an establishment which
he vainly hoped would entice away the habitues of the
Cafes de la Regence et de Procope. Coming over to
London, he made the acquaintance of Mr. Staunton,
and the two players struck hands together, and re
solved to open a chess establishment as a partnership
44 PAUL MOEPHT.
concern. Alexandre put in Ms little all—the change
out of his Paris capital—and he and his coadjutor
opened rooms at the "Waterloo Chambers. A very
good locality, perhaps too good, for rents in that neigh
borhood are rather high. Some twenty or thirty old
players rallied round them, but the attempt was only
of short duration. The two camarades took to squab
bling and vilifying each other ; and, within a year, the
Club was formally dissolved at the request of the mem
bers.
All connection now being severed between the
members and Messrs. Alexandre and Staunton, the
amateurs convened a private meeting for the purpose
of examining their prospects and taking steps for re
organization. Mr. George Walker advertised for a
large room, and was answered by Mr. Beattie, pro
prietor of Beattie's Hotel, George street, Hanover
square. Here, once again, the remains of the " old
guard " planted their standard, and in special, solemn
convocation, under a full sense of their responsibility,
and with all due solemnity, they christened their Club
THE ST. GEORGE's,
the name being suggested, in the first place, by the
baptismal appellative of their virtual founder and Hon.
Sec., Mr. George Walker; and, secondly, because
the meeting was in George street, in the parish of
St. George's. The Club was exceedingly prosperous
during the first year of its existence, much being
due to the fostering care of Mr. B. Smith, M. P.
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 45
for Norwich, who was assiduous in his attendance, and
a capital " whipper-in " of members. The room was
large, well proportioned, and well ventilated, cooking
first-rate, wines unexceptionable. Wine, by the by,
makes your game brilliant, if not sound. Dull, unim
aginative Zsen would have been betrayed into an at
tempt at brilliance and dash, with a couple of bottles
of " old crusted" under his" belt. But it began to ap
pear as though a West End Club could be nought but
an " annual." Mr. Beattie failed in business, and the
St. George's were turned out of doors, wanderers for a
season, without prospect of refuge. And the devotees
of Caissa were on the town for some weeks, two or
three of the leading and most active assiduously on
the watch to find a fresh location, but almost in blank
despair as to the result.
Mr. B. Smith was a large shareholder in the Poly
technic Institution, Regent street. The managing
committee of that estimable establishment were, about
this time, endeavoring to form reading-rooms by sub
scription, in the first floor of their building, facing Cav
endish square. It was suggested to the committee
that chess and reading might be combined ; that one
large room facing the square should be set apart for
reading exclusively, and two smaller ones be devoted
to chess. A meeting was forthwith convened, Mr.
Nurse representing the proprietors of the Institution,
the chess players present being Mr. B. Smith, Mr.
Richard Penn, and the indefatigable and indomitable
46 PAUL MOEPHY.
George Walker. These three gentlemen guaranteed
that one hundred members, paying an annual subscrip
tion of three guineas each, should be enrolled in the
Chess Club within twelve months; and, once again,
the red cross of the St. George's was floating bravely
in the air. Forthwith commenced the hunting up of
old members of the Westminster and other West End
Clubs : touching and tender circulars were issued by
Mr. Walker, adjuring the straggling devotees ofCaissa,
by all the recollections of their first and early loves, by
all their hopes of a glorious hereafter, to rush once
more to the rescue. Could such pathetic appeals fall
unheeded upon the chess-lover's ear ? No. A hundred
and fifty members reiterated " no " to the accompani
ment of their one hundred and fifty three-guinea
subscriptions. "Royal Blue-Book" notabilities en
rolled themselves ; as, for instance, the present Lord
Ravensworth, Dr. Murray, Lord Bishop of Roch
ester, the Honorable Charles Murray, Mr. Brooke
Greville, Mr. Albany Fonblanque, the Messrs. Hamp
ton, Lord Clarence Paget, and a host of other fashion
ables. So the St. George's flourished for years, and it
began to appear that a Chess Club at the West End
could, under proper management, become a perma
nent institution.
It was in this locale that Mr. Staunton played his
first match with Saint Amant, and, losing it, took his
revenge by winning in his turn at Paris. For some
reason or other, the French amateur displayed unac
CILESS IN ENGLAND.
countable nervousness during the progress of the
match in his own capital. The Baronne de L , who
is well known in Parisian salons as an excellent player
and firm supporter of the game, assured me but lately
that she had no easy task in instilling courage into her
countryman, startled as he was by Mr. Staunton's win
ning game after game from him. Warming up under
the merry rebukes of his fair inspirer, Saint Amant
began to turn the tables upon his antagonist, and it
seemed as if he would anticipate the result of the con
test between Lowenthal and Harrwitz. Mr. Staun
ton, however, eventually won, and the stakes were
deposited for the third and deciding match, but Mr. S.
was taken ill, and it was never played. It is unfortu
nate for Mr. Staunton's reputation that the plea of bad
health was so frequently used by him when opponents
appeared, more especially as he is the first to ridicule
such an excuse when coming from others. And it is
more than ever unfortunate in this instance, because
the French players declared that, judging from the
later games of the match in Paris, it was obvious that
Mr. Staunton would have succumbed to their champion
if the third and deciding heat had not been prevented
by the Englishman's indisposition. And many ofthem
even aflirm that Mr. S. felt this and acted in conse
quence.
It may be added that the St. George's Chess Club
had been installed at the Polytechnic Institution some
years before Mr. Staunton joined them, as an honorary
48 PAUL MOEPHT.
member, in compliment to his rising reputation. Mr.
Staunton was laid under lasting obligations to Mr.
George Walker, by the latter's bringing him from ob
scurity into public notice, not merely by introducing
him to the London chess world, but, in addition, by
flattering notices of him in his works. He may, in
fact, be considered the pupil of Mr. Walker, and the
courtesy with which he has always treated his bene
factor makes one think of Labourdonnais's delicacy
towards his old master Deschappelles.
It would seem as though chess-players, like other
men, " get weary in well-doing," and constantly stand
in need of fresh stimulus. Nothing could have been
more suitable or comfortable than the accommodations
of the St. George's at the Polytechnic, and yet they
got to yearning after they scarcely knew what. The
cry was raised that members ought to be able to dine
at their Club, and they forthwith migrated en masse to
apartments in Crockford's Club, transmogrified into an
eating-house on a splendid scale, and styled " The Wel
lington." Here they dwindled away, and the St.
George's would have finally disappeared from exist
ence had it not been for the kindness of Mr. Thomas
Hampton, who offered them apartments at New Palace
Club Chambers, in King street, St. James's. Under
his fostering care, and the patriotic manner in which
he is continually arranging matches and organizing
tournaments amongst the members, the St. George's
has largely increased its muster-roll of amateurs, and
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 49
bids fair to enjoy more halcyon days than ever. In
these rooms Paul Morphy played part of his match with
Herr Lowenthal, and vanquished the well-known ama
teur " Alter," in a contest at Pawn and Move. And in
dismissing this now prosperous West End Club, I must
not forget to mention, for the benefit of those of my
readers who are ignorant of the fact, that it was the
St. George's which initiated and successfully carried
out the Grand International Tournament of 1851, in
which the Teutonic element made itself so conspicuous.
Experience seems to teach us that no West End
Club can be permanently prosperous, without a recog
nized professor of the game being constantly, or fre
quently, in attendance ; one whose object is the in
terest, not of himself, but of chess, willing and ready to
play with all comers for the benefit of all. In such a
Club as the London, where the members are business
men, there is no hollow principle of caste ; social de
mocracy exists, and the players play, talk, laugh, and
eat together on a perfect equality, be they simple
clerks or merchant princes. At the Court End of the
town manners are reserved ; and such a thing may
happen as two members of the same Club waiting sev
eral years, before an introduction justifies them in
speaking to each other. A professor would bring all
these stupid convenances de la societe to a speedy end,
and, by his recognized position in the Club, arrange con
tests between members of equal force, and thus further
the objects for which they are associated.
4
00 PAUL MOBPHY.
THE LONDON CHESS CLUB.
In the very heart of the City of London, under the
shadows of the Bank and Royal Exchange, and but a
step from Lombard street, the London Chess Club
holds its daily sittings. Who would expect to find
such an association in such a place ? Is the quiet of
the chess arena consonant with the hum of busy multi
tudes, hurrying to and fro in never-failing ardor after
the yellow god ? Are stocks and scrip and dividends
allied to gambits and mates? Shall Lloyd's Capel
Court and the Corn Exchange furnish supporters of
Ca'issa ? Come along with me to Cornhill. Stop !
This is Purssell's restaurant. We'll walk up stairs.
This room on the first floor is devoted to billiards.
Above it meets the Cosmopolitan Club, and on the
third floor—out of reach of the noise below—is the
famous old " London," of which every player of note
during the past fifty years has either been a member
or visitor.
It is between three and four o'clock in the after
noon, and the rooms of the Club present the usual ap
pearance at that hour. In the right-hand corner we
perceive the President, Mr. Mougredieu, engaged in
dire- conflict with Mr. Maude, to whom he has offered
the advantage of Pawn and Move. Readers of the
Chess Players'1 Chronicle, of the Palamcde, and La
Megence, have known Mr. Mongredieu for long years
past, as an amateur of first-rate force, who gets him
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 51
self invariably into difficulties at the commencement of
a game, by his unvanquishable contempt for book open
ings, but who comes out all right at last, by his mas
terly tactics in the middle of the contest. Possessed
of a fund of native English humor, and a finished
scholar withal, he keeps up a running fire of wit and
anecdote throughout the game, in which the lookers-on
join. By his side is Mr. George Medley, the Secretary
of the Club, whose name is also a " household word "
to amateurs . he and Mr. Mongredieu ranking as the
strongest players of the association. The latter gen
tleman has run in for an hour's play from the Corn
Exchange, being in fact one of those men who, before
the knowledge of Political Economy had become dif
fused amongst the masses, were styled " the rogues in
grain." Mr Medley has just arrived from the Stock
Exchange, where, after " Bearing " or " Bulling " Mr.
Slous, George Walker, and Mr. Waite during the morn
ing, he meets them at the Chess Club towards three
o'clock, and they become as much absorbed in the mys
teries of the game as though it were the business of
their lives.
If you wish to see what influence chess can have
upon individuals, just analyze the London Club. The
members are not " men of straw," but sound, substan
tial citizens, with balances at their bankers' heavy
enough to buy up half-a-dozen lords. Does a Roth
schild or a Baring negotiate a loan ? Here you will find
men to take up the greater part, if not the whole of it.
52 PAUL MORFIIY.
Is capital for a railroad wanted ? You need not wander
much further. Look around you, and you will recog
nize many of the foremost of Great Britain's merchant
princes ; men pushing England's commerce into every
bay and inlet of old ocean, carrying the British flag
across seas and lakes, and penetrating continents ; caus
ing British cannon to thunder at the gates of Pekin, and
opening Japan to the commerce of the world. These
are the children of the men who first planted foot in
Hindostan, descendants of those who established Eng
land's colonies. These are the men, the very men, who
repealed the Corn Laws in 1846, established the prin
ciple of Free Trade, and told a proud, titled aristoc
racy—" We, the middle class, the merchants, bankers,
and manufacturers of Great Britain, are the source of
all power in England, as we are the source of her
greatness."
An admirable demonstration of these ideas is to be
found in the London Chess Club. This association has
flourished with never-failing vigor since its establish
ment in 1807, whilst Clubs have risen, waned, and died
at the fashionable end of the town. City men are
too patriotic and too proud to allow their Club to lan
guish; and, depend upon it, whilst the old London
counts a single member, that one last man will, from
his own purse, find funds to keep it alive, inscribe on
his colors " Lateat scintillula forsan," and shout with
stentorian lungs for recruits.
The London Chess Club organized on the 6th of
CHESS IN ENGLAND. 53
April, 1807, Mr. Augustus Hankey being first Presi
dent, and the committee numbering among its mem
bers Sir Astley Cooper, the celebrated surgeon, Sir
Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, and others of almost equal emi
nence. The meetings took place at Tom's Coffee
House, in Cornhill. Such men as Sarratt, Lewis,
Walker, McDonnel, Cochrane, Popert, Perigal, Staun
ton, Fraser, etc., have either been members of the Club
or frequenters of it. A good story is told of Perigal,
who, for a long period, officiated as the Honorary Sec
retary. At the time Deschappelles made his ridiculous
challenge to play any English amateur a match at
Pawn and Two moves, Mr. Perigal was sent out to
Paris to arrange preliminaries with the gasconading
Frenchman. Deschappelles soon showed how little he
was in earnest, and the ambassador returned without
having effected any thing. On being questioned at tm
" London " as to the appearance, manner, etc., of the
French champion, he said, with much gravity—" Mr.
Deschappelles is the greatest chess-player in France ;
Mr. Deschappelles is the greatest whist-player in
France; Mr. Deschappelles is the greatest billiard-
player in France; Mr. Deschappelles is the greatest
pumpkin-grower in France, and Mr. Deschappelles is
the greatest liar in France."
A match by correspondence was commenced in 1824,
between the London and Edinburgh Chess Clubs, and
was won by the latter. Two games were commenced
simultaneously, the moves being forwarded every night
54 PAUL MOEPHT.
through the post-office. On one occasion the London
ers sent • off three moves at once, half-an-hour in ad
vance of their usual time; and after the letter was
posted, it was discovered that the last move was
founded on a miscalculation, and might lose the game.
Application was immediately made at the office for the
letter to be returned, but such a thing was impossible
without an order from the Secretary of State. A
second letter was thereupon despatched to Edinburgh,
retracting the move in question, but the cannie sons
of Auld Reekie held them to their first showing, and
the London Club lost the game in consequence. Short
ly afterwards, the Edinburgh Club made a similar blun
der, but they, somehow or other, induced their post
master to produce the letter, and they corrected the
move on the outside. Of course the Londoners
^Rildn't stand that.
In the spring of 1846, Staunton played and won
his match with Harrwitz at the rooms of the Club, and,
in the summer of the same year, he there also van
quished Harrwitz, in a contest of seven even, seven
pawn and move, and seven pawn and two games. In
the latter part of that year, and in the same locality,
Harrwitz and Horwitz played a match, the former
scoring eight games to his opponent's seven ; and, meet
ing again subsequently, a similar result was effected
In 1847, the Club entered on a match by correspond
ence with the Amsterdam Cercle des Echecs, the latter
having sent a challenge of £50 to any London club.
CHESS TO ENGLAND. S5
One game lasted five years, and was won by the Eng
lishmen, and a second game was drawn. The Lon
doners scored the third, and this game is considered
to be one of the finest and most brilliant contests by
correspondence on record. The players selected by the
Club to represent them in this celebrated match were
Messrs. Mongredieu, Slous, Medley, and Greenaway—a
glorious quartet, who are now stronger than ever.
The London Chess Club did not take part in the
Tournament of 1851, because the St. George's, under
the auspices of Mr. Staunton, wished to assume a
position derogatory to their claims ; nor was it proper
that the oldest and most influential Club in the United
Kingdom should play second-fiddle to a much younger
association. But they gave a cup of the value of one
hundred guineas to be played for by the foreign ama
teurs then in London, and Anderssen, Szabs, Zsed|
Kling, and Harrwitz were amongst the contestants.
The cup was won by Herr Anderssen.
In 1852, '53, Harrwitz and Williams played a match
at the London Club, the first-named player winning a
large majority of the games. And, finally, on Paul
Morphy's being challenged last year by Herr Lowen-
thal, this Cjlub, ever foremost in the interests of chess,
doubled the latter's stakes, and offered the combatants
battle-ground for half the games in their saloons. No
where has Paul Morphy met with a heartier English
welcome than from the veterans of this flourishing
association.
56 PAUL MORPHY.
Amongst the strongest amateurs now figuring on
the muster-roll of the London Chess Club are those
" ancients," Messrs. Slous and George Walker, and
Messrs. Mongredieu, Medley, Maude, Greenaway, and
Brien. " May their shadows never grow less ! "
THE PHHIDOEEAN EOOMS.
A chess establishment has lately been opened, under
the above title, in Rathbone place, Oxford street, par
taking of the peculiar character of the Divan, in the
Strand. The admission, as in the latter, is either by
subscription, or by entrance fee of Bixpence, which
includes a cup of coffee or cigar.
As the Philidorean is too youthful an undertaking
to possess a history, I must confine myself to mention
ing some of the principal frequenters, and, considering
the size of the rooms and its age, the establishment may
well be proud of its supporters. The well-known
Austrian amateur, Herr Falkbeer, may be found there
daily, with such proficients as Brien, Zytogorsky,
Wormald, Kenny, Healey, and the rising star, Camp
bell, together with many others, scarcely less known
to fame. As the Philidorean is centrally situated, in
the midst of a very populous and influential neighbor
hood, and too far from any similar place of resort, it
will probably hold its own, and become one of the
great temples of Caissa.
CHAPTER V.
MOEPHY IN ENGLAND.
It is easy to understand that when a man, and especially
a young man, feels his strength in any department of
thought or action, he will be desirous of putting his
abilities to the severest test, so as to take that rank to
which he is entitled. Paul Morphy perceiving that it
was a hopeless task endeavoring to induce the chess
magnates of the Old World to visit America, resolved
to cross the Atlantic himself, and it would be difficult
to imagine a more chivalric act in one so young than
thus embarking on a voyage ofmany thousand miles, for
the sake of finding new antagonists. The journeyings
of II Puttino from Italy into Spain to battle with Ruy
Lopez—the travels of the admirable Crichton through
different countries of Europe, are mediocre in com
parison with this.
But an obstacle stood in the way of the proposed
voyage. Paul Morphy was not yet of age, and it
would be necessary to first obtain the consent of his
4*
58 PAUL MOEPHT.
family. This was difficult, for, in addition to other
reasons, objections were made to our hero's entering
on so public a career, interfering, too, as it would for a
time, with his legal pursuits. A committee was ap
pointed by the Chess Club to wait upon Mr. Morphy's
family to request their consent to the much-desired
voyage, and this was ultimately granted. Strong hopes
were entertained in England that the American cham
pion would assist at the meeting of the British Chess
Association in Birmingham, and, for that purpose, the
committee had offered to place at his disposal a certain
sum to cover his expenses. This was not accepted,
Mr. Morphy little wishing to travel as a professional
chess-player. At the commencement of the month of
June, the following announcement appeared in the
Illustrated, London News :
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CHESS ASSOCIATION.
It was noticed in our columns last week that this event, the
Chess-players' Derby day, was fixed to commence on the 22d
of June. The arrangements of the local committee are, of
course, not yet complete, but it is whispered that they have
succeeded in insuring the presence of the American chess phe
nomenon, Paul Morphy, an attraction, of itself, sufficient to
secure the largest attendance which has been known for years.
The date for the assembling of the Association was
ultimately postponed until the latter part of August, it
being feared, with reason, that the sitting of Parlia
ment would interfere with the attendance of many who
MOEPHT IN ENGLAND. 59
would otherwise be present. The committee wrote to
inform Mr. Morphy of this postponement, and again
urging him to visit Europe, but he was already en
route before the latter reached New Orleans.
I was both surprised and gratified when I read the
announcement of Paul Morphy's arrival in the Illus
trated London News. Now, thought I, these men who
do not believe in an American chess-master, will be
. convinced. We'll see if Morphy's games are merely
" pretty," and " will not bear the test of analysis ; " and
whether " he'll find plenty of matches." I wended my
way to the St. George's, feeling confident that I should
find Morphy there, and, after waiting a short time, I
had the pleasure of welcoming him to England. But,
having arisen up from a sick bed to travel, joined to
the fatigues of a first voyage across the Atlantic, he did
not appear in as good fighting trim as when I had last
seen him in New York.
On Mr. Staunton's arrival, Paul Morphy asked him
if he had any objection to play an off-hand game. Now
it is Morphy's almost invariable custom to wait to be
asked ; the solitary exceptions to this rule (to my
knowledge) being in the cases of Messrs. Staunton and
Harrwitz. Mr. Staunton declined the offer on the
ground of an engagement preventing, and, notwith
standing that they met frequently at the St. George's,
he would never consent to a contest of the most friendly
description. Doubtless he was desirous offirst observing
Morphy's capabilities against other players. The well
60 PAUL MORPHY.
known amateur, "Alter," whose games frequently
grace the columns of Mr. Staunton's paper, offered
himself as a sacrifice. " Alter," however, was not the
first to measure skill with the young American, the
Secretary of the St. George's, Mr. Hampton, having
already played two games with him, on a previous oc
casion.
Morphy and " Alter " ultimately effected a score of
" Alter " 1, and Morphy 4. His next antagonist was
Mr. Barnes, and the result of their play was, at first,
most surprising. During several successive days they
scored alternate games, and the London chess world
consequently measured Morphy's powers by this an
tagonist. Ultimately the former recovered from the
effects of his voyage, and the proportion was estab
lished of 19 to 1, the last ten or twelve games being
scored by Morphy almost without a break. -
The first challenge which the young American re
ceived in London was from Herr Lowenthal. Morphy
says that no one can mention this gentleman's name,
without announcing the fact that he was one of the cel
ebrated triumvirate in the match between Pesth and
Paris. Herr Lowenthal and the 19th century came
arm and arm into the world together, so that he has
been contemporary with many who have gone to an
other sphere. He was led into chess from sheer jeal
ousy, not of woman, but of a man. At a cafe in Pesth,
much frequented by amateurs of the game,—in fact the
Magyar Cafe de la Regence,—he noticed that a crowd
MOEPHT IN ENGLAND. 61
invariably surrounded a certain table after 4 o'clock in
the afternoon ; and, on further inquiry, he learned that
the best chess-player in Hungary took upon himself
daily to astonish the natives there. That player was
Zsen. Zsen was a clerk in the office of Archives at
Pesth, and, when the business of the day was over, he
repaired to the above-mentioned spot to play chess for
a nominal stake, which never exceeded a zwanziger
(sevenpence English). Another peculiarity of his was,
that, no matter what the strength of his opponent might
be—queen, rook, knight, or pawn player—he never
would give any odds. His game was dull, analytical,
and sound to a tiresome extent, his only object being
to get through the opening and middle, and then win
ning became a certainty ; for all his strength came out
in the endings, and a very good .place, too, for it to
appear in. Zsen went to Paris in 1831, and played
some games with Labourdonnais at the odds of Pawn
and Move, winning the majority. He then told the
great Frenchman that he did not like playing for stakes
as a general thing, but that he would propose to him a
match of twenty-one even games for 200 francs ; but
Labourdonnais declined. And who will say he was
wrong ? for what pleasure could there be in sitting
down day after day before the dullest player in Chris
tendom, for the eventuality of 200 francs ? Zsen was
so frightfully slow, even in ordinary games, that he
would have worn out 200 francs' worth of his opponent's
pantaloons before the match was halfthrough. • He was
62 PAUL MOEPHT.
an exceedingly nervous man, and this quality particu
larly evinced itself during the Tournament of '5 1, to the
eminent delight of his London friends. But he was a
good-hearted, amiable man, never losing his temper,
and ever ready to declare that he hadn't won the game,
but his opponent had lost it.
We left Zsen over a move at the Pesth cafe. Herr
Lowenthal observing what interest seemed to be taken
in chess, thought he should like to try his hand at it,
and forthwith pored over such works on the game as
he was informed would initiate him into-its mysteries.
Obtaining a little knowledge, he soon after began play
ing daily with Zsen, receiving no odds, because, as be
fore stated, Zsen would not give any, upon principle.
During eighteen months, Lowenthal never scored one
game. But whilst Zsen was away on his travels at
Paris and elsewhere, he made rapid progress, particu
larly in the openings ; and on his antagonist's return,
he induced him to give the advantage of Pawn and
Move, and Zsen lost every game. Returning to eveu
play, the latter won the large majority ; but with con
stant practice, Lowenthal decreased the distance be
tween them, although he never turned the tables upon
his adversary. Herr L. considers that, in their best
play, Grimm would win three games to Zsen's seven,
and four to his six. Most chess-players finished Grimm
some years back, but he still flourishes " down East."
After the Hungarian agitation of 1848, he fled into
MOBPHY IN ENGLAND. 63
Turkey, and is now settled in Aleppo, where, as he
turned Mussulman, he no doubt revels.
Grimm was a music publisher in Pesth, and, accord
ing to Herr Lowenthal, a man of high intelligence, be
ing a celebrated pianist and a thorough proficient in
the German, French, Italian, and Latin languages. Ho
was also renowned as a whist-player, and his equal at
the billiard-table was not to be found throughout the
entire Austrian Empire. His chess was the antithesis
of Zsen's, being " brilliant, but not over sound," quali
ties which find favor with " the gallery," but are dan
gerous to one's backers in a match. This interesting
triumvirate—Zsen, Grimm, Lowenthal—had it all their
own way, in Pesth, until July, 1842, when Alexandre
came there, and then they had him too. Alexandre
brought his Encyclopaedia, or the Encyclopaedia brought
him, and both of them got sold in the Hungarian capi
tal. He thought the idea of anybody there beating
him, simply preposterous ; but was irresistibly con
vinced to the contrary when Grimm & Co. did it with
so much charming facility, that he told them they were
a match for the Paris Cercle des Echecs, and advised
them to send a challenge forthwith. The triumvirate
were shy at first, then did as they were told, and, to
their surprise, the Paris Club accepted their dtfi by re
turn of post, enclosing the first move. The match con
sisted of two games, and 1,250 francs a side ; the read
er can learn, on inquiry at Cafe de la Regence in Paris,
who didn't win it.
64 PAUL MOEPHY.
Herr Lowenthal's business led him twice a year to
Vienna, and on those occasions he improved his play
with the amateurs of the Oercle des Echeca of that
capital. In 1846, he won a match of Hampe, beating
him nearly 2 to 1. About the same period he visited
Breslau, and won a majority of games (off-hand) from
Anderssen. He then steered for Berlin, " the city of
the seven stars"—Heyderbrandt, Bledow, Bilguer,
Hanstein, Mayet, Horwitz and Mendheim. The first
of these paladins was absent from the capital, but Herr
L. met him subsequently at Vienna, and Heyderbrandt
won a majority of two games. With Hanstein, Lo-
wenthal effected an even result, but got the better of
Mayet. In Von der Lasa's absence, Bledow was incon-
testably the strongest player of the club ; but Bledow
was jealous of his reputation, and declined opposing the
Hungarian, until strongly, urged by the members.
Herr Lowenthal states that Bledow evinced the great
est generosity. Having a certainly-won game, but not
wishing to damp a young reputation by defeat, he said,
" Oh, I suppose it can only be a drawn game," and
forthwith made a move which allowed his antagonist
to escape and draw the contest. Not many Bledows
in this world !
In 1849, Herr Lowenthal visited the United States,
during the contest between Messrs. Stanley and Tur
ner. With the latter gentleman he played two matches,
winning both, and subsequently accompanied him into
Kentucky, where he commenced another with Colonel
MOEPHT IN ENGLAND. 65
Dudley, being again successful. Thence he strayed to
Cincinnati, where he met his fellow-countryman, Colo
nel Pragay, and travelled with him to New Orleans,
carrying a letter of introduction to Mr. Eugene Rous
seau. Immediately on arriving he was taken ill with
fever ; but on recovery, he called upon that gentleman
and heard, for the first time, of Paul Morphy. Our
hero, then but twelve years of age, won two games,
drew one, and lost none ; and although Herr Lowen-
thal did not imagine that he thus made the acquaint
ance of a master whom he would eventually rank as
the superior of every chess-player that ever lived—La-
bourdonnais not excepted—yet he felt satisfied that his
youthful opponent would rise to equality with the
strongest living amateurs. As proof of this, I will give
a paragraph from The Era of October 5th, 1856, twelve
months before Paul Morphy was known outside of
Louisiana. Herr Lowenthal writes as follows :
" Chess in America.—The progress Chess has made in
America is almost, if not quite, equal to that which it has
achieved in England. This is more than might have been ex
pected ; for in a comparatively new country men may be sup
posed to be busier and more restless than in an old one, and it
seems to be rather against probabilities that a game, requiring
quiet thought and study, should have been developed to the
same extent as more bustling amusements in America. Yet
that it is so is proved by the fact that in almost every large
town there is a Chess Clob, and many of these clubs are in com
munication, and play games by correspondence. Another proof
is also to be found in the number of papers regularly devoting
66 PATJL MOEPHY.
a part of their space to chess, and giving, as the English chess
papers do, well-contested games, with notes, problems, 'and
chess intelligence. Among the first in rank of these is the
Albion, the chess column of which is, we believe, edited by
Mr. Stanley, and among the latest of the accessions to the
chess ranks we observe Frank Leslie's Illustrated Paper. In
the first rank of the players in New York (between which and
Philadelphia a correspondence match is now going on) we may
, mention Messrs. Stanley, Sullivan, Thompson, and Perrin.
We must pay some attention to chess in America if we mean to
Tceep our laurels green. The men of the New World are not
apt to lag behind when they throw themselves into any pur
suit, and if we do not take care, we may have the next chess
champion from the far west."
Herr Lowenthal, on quitting the Crescent City, re
turned to Cincinnati, where he was induced to settle.
He opened a smoking and chess divan, and was on the
high road to fortune, when he received a letter from
Mr. Charles H. Stanley, in New York, enclosing one
from Mr. Staunton. This communication invited Herr
Lowenthal to attend the International Tournament at
London, in 1851, and ambition prevailed over cupidity.
He, however, got ousted in the first round of the tour-
nay, his antagonist being Mr. Williams, but he turned
the tables upon that gentleman soon afterwards, by
beating him in a set match.
When the St. George's Chess Club removed to St.
James's street, Herr Lowenthal was elected secretary
out of one hundred and forty candidates, and officiated
in that capacity during four years. " The Era " news
paper commenced a chess column in February, 1854,
MORPHY IN ENGLAND. 67
and he was selected by the proprietor to conduct it—
our readers know with what success. A few months
ago, the Illustrated News of the World announced its
intention of devoting a column weekly to the game,
under the direction of Herr Lowenthal, and he also
edits an elementary chess article in the Family Herald.
A fair amount of weekly work for one man ; especially
when his book labors and frequent play at the London,
St. George's, and St. James's are taken into considera
tion. The last-named club is his own child, and prom
ises to become one of the most flourishing in the me
tropolis.
Herr Lowenthal did not regard his play with Mor-
phy at New Orleans as any test of their respective
strength, but it was not at all agreeable to his feelings
to have it recorded against him that he was beaten by a
boy of twelve. So, on Paul Morphy's arrival in England,
be hastened to challenge him, and of course a match
was immediately agreed upon. It was at first arranged
that the match should be for £50 a side, and the victor
he who first scored seven games, but the challenger
possessed so many warm friends, all of whom wished
to have a share in the stakes, that it was proposed to
Morphy to double the amount and increase the num
ber of games to nine. It is lucky that Morphy was
not born a woman, for he never says " no " to any
proposition, and he did not to this. Half of Herr Lo-
wenthal's stakes were found by the London, and the re
mainder by members of the St. George's ; and it was
68 PATH MORPHY.
stipulated that the games should be played alternately
at the rooms of those two clubs.
My readers know the result. According to the
opinion, or rather the statements, of numerous London
players, Herr Lowenthal played much below his usual
strength—one gentleman stating that his combinations
were unworthy of a rook-player even. I was used to
this, and liked it. The New Yorkers had uttered
similar stuff, saying that Morphy only beat them be
cause he knew the openings better, and I can state on
authority that all the players in Europe came to a
mutual understanding not to play their game when
Morphy was their antagonist. But there was also
another reason for the latter's success. He frightened
nis adversaries, not by his strength, but by his personal
appearance. This boy of twenty-one, five feet four
inches in height, of slim figure, and face like a young girl
in her teens, positively appalled the chess warriors of
the old world—Narcissus defying the Titans. Herr
Lowenthal was the first to give Morphy his due ; be
fore the final game in the match was played, he said
to me : " I felt chagrined at the result of the first one
or two games, because I thought that I ought to have
won them ; but now I feel no longer dissatisfied, for I
am convinced that I am vanquished by superior
strength." And he has since told me—" After the first
game I went home saying to myself, ' Well, Morphy is
not so terrible after all ! ' The second partie failed to
change my opinion ; but, in the third, I saw all my
MOKPHY IN ENGLAND. 09
combinations twisted and turned against me, and I felt
myself in a grasp against which it was almost vain to
struggle." Chess-players will shortly see this noble-
minded gentleman's opinion of Morphy fully expressed,
in a collection of the latter's games which he has lately
been engaged in editing.
The following extract from The Era newspaper
thus announces the result of the match to its readers :
FINISH OF THE GREAT OIIESS MATCH.
The match between Mr. Paul Morphy and Herr Lowenthal
came to an end on Saturday the 22d, the American carrying the
victory. Although it was universally remarked that Herr
Lowenthal's play was far below his usual strength, it must at
the same time be admitted that the play of Mr. Morphy marks
that gentleman out as one of the finest players in the world.
We shall be glad to see him engage with other great European
players, in order that it may bo proved which is the stronger
in the game, the Old World or the New. We believe Mr.
Morphy is ready to challenge, all comers. There is something
exceedingly romantic and chivalrous about this young man's
coming over to Europe and throwing down the gauntlet to all
our veterans. He is certainly a very admirable Crichton of
Chess, and, like the accomplished Scot, he is as courteous and
generous as he is brave and skilful.
The Era, August 29th, 1858.
When the above match was only about half through,
another was arranged between our hero and " Alter,"
the former giving the odds of Pawn and Move. In
conversation one day with some gentlemen at the St.
George's, Paul Morphy had expressed himself dissatis
10 PAUL MORPHY.
fied with "Alter's" having won a game from him,
stating that he could give him the odds of Pawn and
Move. This coming to "Alter's" ears, he stated to
Mr. Hampton, the secretary of the Club, that he felt
confident Mr. Morphy could do no such thing, and that
he would very willingly play a match with him, in a
friendly spirit, to convince him to the contrary. Where
upon Mr. Hampton brought the cartel to Morphy, who
gladly accepted it, and, the two principals being put
face to face, it was agreed that a set of ivory club-size
Staunton chessmen should become the property of the
winner of the first five games. Now " Alter " had been
playing for months past at those odds (P. & M.) with
Mr. Staunton, holding his own against that gentleman,
and he considered that if he (Mr. S.) could not beat
him, certainly Morphy could not. So confident was he
of the result, that he told the young American : " Were
it not for my position (meaning as a clergyman), I would
willingly play you for a thousand pounds." As far as
he was concerned, Morphy, too, was confident. Before
the contest commenced, he said to me : " 4 Alter ' may
win two games, but he will not win more ; " and I
would here notice his (M.'s) power of estimating an op
ponent's strength. When the preliminaries were set
tled with Herr Lowenthal, he stated to me : "HI
cared about betting, I would bet that Lowenthal does
not win five games. Of course there will be plenty of
draws, but he will not get more than four." On our
way to Paris, he said : " Well, now I am going to play
MORFHY IN ENGLAND. 71
Harrwitz, and I would bet the same as I did about
Lowenthal ; " and when he was preparing to meet An-
derssen, he awarded four games to the Prussian cham
pion. In every instance he overrated his opponents,
or, perhaps I should rather say, underrated himself.
The preliminaries were soon settled, all ceremony,
seconds, &c, being dispensed with ; the only condition,
that I can recollect, was in regard to smoking. " Al
ter " observed that gentlemen could use the weed in
the room where the match was played, but it must be
in moderation, so as not to render the atmosphere in
supportable. " Alter " gave a capital example on the
first game : he sat down in front of Morphy with an
ordinary cigar in his mouth ; when that was nearly
finished, he ordered the waiter to bring him a full-sized
regalia ; cutty-pipe and " birdseye " followed the re
galia y and then he left the room to fetch an immense
meerschaum, from which he blew clouds worthy of
Peter Stuyvesant and the Knickerbockers.
" Alter " was thoroughly acquainted with the pecu
liar nature of the " pawn and move " game ; Morphy,
on the contrary, was less accustomed to those odds
than to any other. In New Orleans, he did not engage
even players, or any, in fact, but such as he gave the
knight, and much more frequently, the rook. In New
York he played a short match at pawn and move with
Mr. Stanley, and that may be considered his introduc
tion to such odds ; I was therefore as much astonished
as any one when I saw him make such short work of
PAUL MORPHY.
" Alter," who never won a single game, and only suc
ceeded in drawing two. I am afraid that this result
seriously interfered with Mr. Staunton's fixing a day
for the commencement of the match between himself
and Morphy.—.
It must not be supposed that our hero was devoting
all his time to chess, or that the game was always up
permost in his thoughts. A foreigner, and especially
an American, feels bound to visit all " the lions " of the
English metropolis, and Morphy was no exception to
the rule. I was almost constantly with him, and cer
tainly no subject was less frequently referred to than
chess. I have been amused with the conduct of gentle
men on similar occasions, who seemed to think that no
other subject than that could interest him, and after
pertinaciously confining the conversation to the game,
took upon themselves to declare that it was the single
thought of his life. So that, in England, he is looked
upon as a chess automaton. In France they give him
the very opposite character, complaining of his aver
sion for the game. ,
Precisely the same thing was observable in their
references to the peculiar style of his play. In Eng
land, they considered him the very beau-ideal of bril
liancy, comparing him to McDonnel, and to " Cochrane,
without his faults." In Paris, however, they charac
terized his game as "solide, close, and analytical,
not possessing brilliance like Labourdonnais ; " al
though these Frenchmen, one and all, with the ex
MOEPHY IK ENGLAND.
exception of De Riviere, forced their close openings
upon him.
Since Mr. Staunton's voluntary relinquishment of
what he te/ms " actual play," confining himself to con
sultation games and " odds," Mr. Boden is admitted to
be the best English player. The B's certainly form a
strong phalanx amongst London amateurs, numbering
such names as Buckle, Boden, Barnes, Brien, Bird;
but the first-named gentleman has long since quitted
the lists. Mr. Boden was no exception to the rule of
English players in their opinion of Morphy, on the lat-
ter's arriving in Europe ; but he was one of the first to
be convinced of the American's superiority, and, with
John Bull honesty, immediately avowed it. The ad
mirably-conducted chess column in The Field, is under
his supervision ; and his remarks therein on Morphy's
tactics are too well known to require any comment
from me. I have heard him state his conviction that
no one could possibly be better adapted for the game,
whether physically or mentally ; and he, too, like Herr
Lowenthal, ranks Morphy above all known players.
In the month of January last, he drew my attention to
one game in particular, between our hero and Anders-
sen, stating that he was satisfied " Labourdonnais
would have lost it ten times over." Now it requires
great courage on the part of any man to place a, player -
beside Labourdonnais, much more above him. Herr
Lowenthal says that he does not wonder that the chess
world is so backward in giving Morphy the rank to
5
PAUL MORPHY.
which he is entitled ; " but few players are capable of
appreciating his games, and it was only after careful
analysis that he could form a proper opinion of them."
He assured me that he has frequently been qpnfounded
at the depth of Morphy's combinations whilst engaged
in their work, expressing his firm conviction that when
a collection of his games shall be placed before the
public, the chess world will rank Morphy above all
players, living or dead.
The proportion in which Morphy had beaten Mr.
Boden was so great, namely, five to one, that a promi
nent member of the St. George's remarked on hearing
it, " Well, I did not think any player living could win
in such proportion." I remember a similar occurrence
in reference to Mr. Perrin, the late secretary of the
New York Chess Club, some weeks before the appear
ance of Paul Morphy in that city. In answer to a
friend, this gentleman replied, " That is the same as say
ing that a player could give any of us a piece," (mean
ing the principal members of his club, who were con
sidered about on a par with each other.) " Now, I
don't think that Labourdonnais, even, could give me
the knight." Morphy, nevertheless, after beating him
at even, at pawn and move, and pawn and two, offered
him the knight, which was accepted " for trial's sake ; "
and out of five games there was a difference of the odd
victory, but my memory fails me as to whether it was
won by Morphy or not. Mr. Perrin will not feel dis
pleased at my mentioning this fact, because it is pretty
MOBPHY IN ENGLAND.
well conceded now, that where any other player can
give pawn and two moves, Morphy can very easily give
the knight. European celebrities, in making compari
son of the strength of different amateurs, leave Mor
phy out of the question ; and when they compare him
at all, it is only with Labourdonnais. And very few of
them, too, would scruple at taking odds from him.
On the publication of his challenge to Mr. Harrwitz to
play a match at pawn and move for 500 francs, Mr.
Boden stated in The Field, " There is more than one
English player who will be glad to meet Mr. Morphy
on these terms."
The majority of his games in London, Morphy
played at the Divan. It was a general subject of re
gret, after he had vanquished the different amateurs in
the capital, that Mr. Bird was absent in the North, and
that the American might leave before that gentleman
could visit London. Mr. Bird is a terrible fellow for
attacking right and left ; his game was described as
the counterpart of Morphy's, it being added that he
was just the antagonist our hero required. At last,
Mr. Bird arrived, and the result between the two was
more startling than ever, Morphy winning ten to one.
It is but just to state that Mr. Bird was somewhat out
of play, as he himself observed ; adding, however, that
he never was a match for his antagonist. It gives me
much pleasure to relate such instances as these, be
cause, as a general rule, there are no more self-confi
dent mortals than prominent chess-players.
PAUL MOEPHY.
It would be difficult to remember all the men with
whom Morphy played at the Divan ; or, rather, with
whom he did not play. But I must not forget that
merry individual, Mr. Lowe. It was in the Divan that
Mr. Staunton played Mr. Lowe that celebrated match
at pawn and move, the play in which on both sides, as
Mr. S. observed, " was unworthy of second-rate players
in a third-rate coffee-room," because Mr. Staunton was
beaten. Since that occasion, Mr. Staunton has slighted
the Divan, but Mr. Lowe still flourishes there, ever
ready to meet all comers, and if not nightly playing
somebody, at all events nightly making everybody
laugh. Mr. Lowe made trial of Morphy privately, im
mediately on the latter's arrival, and forthwith ran to
the Divan to tell everybody, much to everybody's dis
gust, that not one of them would have any chance
against the American. They all laughed at him, the
only reply being, " Oh, Lowe, you're a funny fellow ! "
Before the Birmingham meeting, Morphy had met
all the leading Metropolitan players, with, of course,
the exception of Mr. Staunton. And yet perhaps I
should not except that gentleman, for our hero had
played in two consultation games with him, Mr. S.'s
ally being "Alter," and Morphy's, Mr. Barnes.
Messrs. Barnes and " Alter " are well matched. Both
of these consultation games were won by Messrs.
Barnes and Morphy.
As the latter part of the month of August ap
proached, considerable curiosity was evinced in various
MOEPHY IN ENGLAND. 77
quarters as to whether Paul Morphy would then be a
contestant in the tournament. Although not a Yan
kee, he nevertheless displayed as much " cuteness " un
der oft-repeated interrogatories as the downiest " down
Easter ; " feeling what an important bearing his deter
mination would have upon the expected match with
Mr. Staunton. In a subsequent chapter will be found
his reasons for not entering the lists on that occasion.
He was well aware that his decision must necessarily
produce considerable disappointment, but he was con
scious that a tournament triumph is by no means an
accurate test of strength. If chess can ever become a
game of chance, it is under such circumstances ; and
the only sure criterion of the respective strengths of
two opponents is by actual hand-to-hand encounter.
But Morphy did not intend disappointing the Bir
mingham gentry altogether, and felt convinced that if
he played six or eight games blindfold before the asso
ciation, they would pardon his absence at the opening
of the meeting. After the tournament had got into
the second section, he left London and arrived at Bir
mingham before the day's proceedings had fully com
menced. I had the pleasure of accompanying him, and
on our arrival at the College in which the meeting of
the British Chess Association was held, we found quite
a crowd in the commodious rooms provided by the
Committee of Management. The President of the
Birmingham Club, Mr. Avery, introduced the young
American to the members of the association, and the
78 PAUL MOEPHY.
cheers with which he was received were such as seldom
come from others than Englishmen. Morphy advanced
up the room without the slightest embarrassment, al
though his reception was as unlooked-for as it was flat
tering. Saint Amant, who was present, wrote a bril
liant account of the meeting to the Paris journal Le
Sport, and I am oply sorry that I have not the article
in question by me at the present moment. The style
of the article, however, is indelibly fixed in my memo
ry, reminding one of the Lays of the old Troubadours.
Saint Amant writes prose in poetry, and he has made
of Morphy an epic hero. He tells the Parisians that
the young American is no mere pale-faced boy, visiting
foreign lands to increase his powers ; but " a citizen of
the United States, who comes to claim a sceptre in
Europe." Then again, " his walk is that of a king, and
he advances through the crowd of strangers like a
monarch receiving homage from his court." But he
does not forget to state that Morphy is innately
modest, and that all this admiration has no bad effect
upon him ; for such has been the theme of every one
who has been brought in contact with him.
Most of the principal players in England were as
sembled at Birmingham, in August, 1858. Amongst
them, Staunton, Lowenthal, Boden, Bird, Kipping,
Owen, Salmon, Avery, Hampton, the President of
the Association, Lord Lyttelton, Falkbeer, Brien, etc.
The prominent feature of the meeting was of course
the tournament prizes of sixty and twenty guineas, for
MOEPHT IN ENGLAND. 79
which Messrs. Staunton, Lowenthal, St. Amant, Falk-
beer, Kipping, Owen, Hughes, Brien, Smith, Ingleby,
Bird, Zsabo, Hampton, Brettlestone, and Salmon con
tended. The sixteenth player was intended to be
Morphy, but not appearing in time, he was ruled to
have lost all further share in the contest. It was mat
ter for much disappointment that Mr. Boden did not
enter the lists, especially after the gallant fight he had
made at the previous meeting of the association in
Manchester. The final result was that Herr Lowenthal
carried off the first prize, and Herr Falkbeer the
second ; and, so far as the former gentleman was con
cerned, almost every player was both astonished and-
gratified at the denouement. It was only during the
week preceding the Birmingham Festival, that the
Hungarian had succumbed to his youthful antagonist,
and he had consequently entered on a fresh contest
with all the disheartening recollections of defeat ; a
defeat, too, which he expressed his belief had seriously
damaged his chess reputation. Prominent London
players had criticized his games with Morphy in an in
considerate spirit, the almost universal statement being
that he had not played up to any thing like his usual
strength. The criticisms on his moves in the widely
circulated columns of the Illustrated London News
were cruel to a degree ; slighting allusions being made
to his "bookish theoric," etc. Yet this old veteran
goes down to the field of battle with unshaken courage,
wins two games, one after the other, from Mr, Staunton
80 PAUL MOEPHY.
in the second section of the tournay, and carries off
the first prize in the teeth of fourteen able competitors.
This result proved one thing beyond a doubt, namely,
that Morphy's late triumph was the consequence of his
superior strength, and not from mere want of practice
and skill on the part of Herr Lowenthal. And it also
verified the observation of Mr. George Walker, in
BeWs Life, that "Mr. Morphy beat Mr. Lowenthal
because Mr. Morphy was stronger than Mr. Lowen
thal." Oh, Mr. Walker! Mr. Walker! what a rude
way you have of putting naked truths before the
public !
Of course Morphy was not allowed to twirl his
thumbs in idleness, especially with so energetic a mas
ter of the ceremonies as Mr. Avery. This gentleman
soon arranged a contest between our hero and Mr.
Kipping, the leading Manchester player, and exponent
of the Evans' Gambit. Mr. K. had the move, and
played the opening he has so much at heart ; Morphy
accepted, under the impression that he, too, knew
something about the Evans'. First game scored by
the American, the Manchester amateur thirsting for
revenge. Morphy, in his turn, plays the Evans', and
Mr. Kipping cries " enough." No other single games
were played by Morphy during the meeting, the lead
ing celebrities present being engaged in the tourna
ment, but our hero made up the difference by astonish
ing the natives with a display of his blindfold powers.
When Morphy declared his intention, in London,
MOEPHY IN ENGLAND. 81
to play eight games without sight of the board, there
were very few who believed the thing possible. They
knew that Labourdonnais and Philidor had played two
or three games simultaneously, and that Kieseritzky
and Harrwitz had repeated the performance in later
times, but there was a wide leap from three to eight
antagonists. Harrwitz had earned a great reputation
in Europe by his blindfold prowess, and was regarded
without a rival, although many other players, such as
• Anderssen, De Riviere, etc., had occasionally met two
or three antagonists at a time. Here was " a coil ; "
this young champion of the West, not satisfied with
vanquishing all the chess veterans of England over the
board, prepares to cast for ever into the shade the most
astonishing performances of this and past ages. Well
might Saint Amant declare that it was enough to
make the bones of Philidor and Labourdonnais rattle
in their graves !
I well remember Paul Morphy's first blindfold con
test in New York. It was on the occasion of Paulsen's
playing against four antagonists without sight of the
board. Morphy offered to be one of his adversaries,
and to meet him on the same conditions ; and some
where about the twentieth move he announced mate
in five, much to Paulsen's astonishment, who did not
think the crash was so near, although well aware he
was " going to the bad." Mr. Paulsen got such an in
sight into Morphy's blindfold capabilities, that he sub
sequently observed to me, " Mr. Morphy can play as
5*
82 PAUL MOEPHT.
many games, without seeing the board, as I can, only
he is so unwilling to lose a game."
It will here be well to mark the difference between
the blindfold performances of these two gentlemen.
Both of them see the boards in the mind's eye equally
well, but there the resemblance stops. Paulsen's con
tests average fifty moves, whereas Morphy's seldom
extend beyond thirty. The former is a balista, the lat
ter, a rifle bullet. What each is over the board, he is
with his back turned to it, and there are many even in
Europe who maintain that Morphy's blindfold feats are
more brilliant than his usual mode of play. Paul
Morphy, however, attaches very little importance to
these displays, calling them mere tours de force, not
withstanding that they appear so wonderful to the mul
titude. To quote a favorite expression of his, one fre
quently used by him in speaking on the subject—" It
proves nothing." '
A young gentleman has lately appeared somewhere
in Germany, who, Ave are informed, has reproduced Mor
phy's performances at Birmingham and Paris. In fact
he is represented to have precisely re-enacted the
American's victory in the French capital, playing
against eight strong antagonists, winning from six and
drawing from two. There seems some " method " in
this ; at least I for one cannot help feeling suspicious,
especially as the news is heralded to the world in con
nection with Morphy's name. I have seen one of the
games played on the occasion, in which this young
MOEPHY IN ENGLAOT). 83
gentleman announces mate in ten or twelve moves—an
astonishing announcement, indeed, under the circum
stances. The whole affair is beautifully managed
throughout, and, whether played blindfolded or over
the board, marks the player as an amateur of the very
highest order. Was the transaction bona fide ? Now
I do not wish to depreciate any man for the sake of
benefiting another. Palmam qui meruit, ferat. We
know that Morphy has played against eight antagonists
on two separate and most public occasions, and that
the most eminent players in England and France were
witnesses of his performance. If Germany does pos
sess a second Morphy, let him step forward and prove
his identity, and I, for one, will do him reverence.
Cannot that responsible body, the Berlin Chess Club,
tell us something tangible about him, and why it is that
we never heard any thing about him till now ? Per
haps he is a new Deschappelles, and has acquired chess
in forty-eight hours, on hearing of Morphy's feats.
The Berlin Schackzeitung can surely investigate this
affair, and enlighten us on what seems very much like
a ruse de guerre —an invention of the enemy.
But let us return to Birmingham. Mr. Avery asked
the young American what eight antagonists he would
select ; when the latter replied that it was immaterial
to him, but that he should prefer all strong players.
There were then in the room Messrs. Staunton, Saint
Amant, Lowenthal, Boden, Falkbeer, Brien, and others
of not much inferior strength, and Morphy was in hopes
84 PAUL MOEPHT.
that many, if not all, of these gentlemen would offer
themselves as opponents. But he was mistaken, and
great difficulty was experienced by the Committee of
Management in making up the required eight, who
were, finally, as follows : Lord Lyttelton, President of
the British Chess Association, Rev. Mr. Salmon, the
strongest Irish player, Messrs. Kipping, Avery, Wills,
Rhodes, Carr, and Dr. Freeman. Paul Morphy was
put up in a corner at the end of the room, and, every
thing being prepared for action, he threw open his port
holes and gave the signal, " Pawn to King's Fourth on
all the boards."
Of course I am not going to mystify the general
reader with the scientific details of the contest. I know
that Lord Lyttelton had the first board, and received
the deference due to his exalted rank, by being the first
put hors du combat, and I remarked, too, that after his
lordship had decided on his various moves, he would
get up from his seat, walk towards the end of the room,
and contemplate Morphy, as though desirous of seeing
how he did it. And I know, too, that St. Amant was
running from table to table, giving advice to one and
the other with his continual " II va croquer 5a," as an
intimation that one or the other must look out for a
pawn or.piece in danger. And then, too, Morphy kept
on checking Mr. Avery's king by moving his rook from
the seventh square to the eighth, backwards and for
wards, until that estimable gentleman declared it was a
drawn game, when a bystander horrified him with the
MOEPHY IN ENGLAND. 85
information—" That is only after fifty moves ; Morphy
will keep you there until he has kiboshed the others,
and then he will honor you with his sole attention."
But the game was finally declared drawn.
And, at the finish, how everybody applauded when
Morphy arose, the vanquisher of six, having only lost
the game with Mr. Kipping—through an oversight at
the beginning. And how everybody was astonished
when he stepped from his seat as fresh as a newly
plucked daisy, and Mr. Staunton examined him closely
to find traces of fatigue. Then indeed his not playing
in the tournament was forgiven .and forgotten.
Then there was the soiree, and the capital matter-
of-fact address of Lord Lyttelton. His lordship lauded
Morphy to the skies, both for his blindfold and other
play, and referred to the match with Mr. Staunton,
trusting that Morphy would beat every other antago
nist but that gentleman. Nothing more now remained
to be done in England for some months to come ; and*
Morphy returned to London, to prepare for his cam
paigns on the Continent.
CHAPTEE VI.
THE 8TABNTOS AFFAIE.
We must anticipate the events of a few months, in
order to place the discussion with Mr. Staunton where
it properly belongs, viz., with Morphy's achievements
in England. I do not think I have omitted a single
fact or incident connected with an affair which has now
become history, and my readers will agree with me
that Mr. Staunton has suffered a far worse defeat by
not playing the match than if he had been vanquished,
as everybody says he would have been.
In dealing with this most delicate question, I feel
desirous of letting facts, as far as possible, speak for
themselves ; but as it is the province and the duty of
historians to seek the causes of events and to criticize
the actions of their dramatis personal, I shall record,
in all honesty and kindliness, what I believe to have
been the motives at work in this contest. And, in or
der that nothing may remain unsaid, I shall give all
the correspondence on the subject, both pro and con.
Paul Morphy's principal object in coming to Europe
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 87
was to play a match with Mr. Staunton. I am well
aware that a young gentleman travelling for the first
time in foreign countries must have many objects in
view ; but in this particular case, the pretext for the
voyage, the very inducement for his friends to consent
to his journey, was to repeat that challenge personally,
in England, which Mr. Staunton had declined, on the
ground of the place of combat not being in Europe.
It is necessary that this point should be understood,
because much of the controversy hinges upon it. If
we examine the challenge addressed to Mr. Staunton
by the New Orleans Chess Club, we find therein two
main ideas : lstly. That Mr. Staunton is a representative
of European chess. 2ndly. That American players chal
lenge him to combat with their representative. Mr.
Staunton's reply raised but one objection ; and that ob
jection led Paul Morphy across the Atlantic, in order
to remove the only stumbling-block in the way of the
contest.
I was constantly with Morphy after his arrival in
London, and a frequent subject of conversation between
us was the match with Mr. Staunton. That, too, was
the first, the principal topic at all the London Clubs
we visited, and every thing but the date was looked
upon as decided. Mr. Staunton, however, had not, as
yet, stated explicitly that he accepted the challenge,
but he did so viva voce shortly after Mr. Morphy's
arrival, and subsequently, in the Illustrated London
News.
88 PAUL MOBPHY.
It seems as if Mr. Staunton had refrained from
accepting the defi until a somewhat accurate estimate
could be formed of his challenger's strength. Pre
viously to the latter's arrival, Mr. S.'s opinion of him was
not at all equal to that entertained by his countrymen
in America, nor did any player in England give him the
rank which he now holds. There were no means by
which to judge of his force. Not a dozen of his games
all told had been seen in Europe, and his antagonists
were comparatively unknown, with the exception of
Mr. Charles H. Stanley. But that gentleman had, for
some years, withdrawn from the chess arena, and his
play with Morphy did not, certainly, equal his former
exploits with Rousseau and Schulten. It was, there
fore, absolutely necessary to await the result of his play
with some known European antagonist; and I feel
confident that the stature of his ability was measured
on his first twelve or fifteen games with Mr. Barnes.
Judging from these parties, Paul Morphy was little, if
any thing, superior to that gentleman, but time had not
been allowed him to recover from the fatigues of his
voyage, and I have always remarked that travelling,
even by rail, seriously deteriorates Morphy's game.
In accepting the challenge, Mr. Staunton postponed
the commencement of the match for a month, " in order
to brush up his openings and endings." This was too
reasonable for Morphy to decline. Subsequently, as
will be seen by the latter's correspondence, Mr. Staunton
obtained a postponement until after the Birmingham
THE STAUNTON AFFAIE. 89
meeting, in August. In the mean time, the young
American had won the match with Herr Ldwenthal,
beaten " Alter " in a set contest at " pawn and move,"
and startled the chess community by the imposing
manner in which he had triumphed over every oppo
nent. Public opinion had changed in respect to him.
This was evinced by the way in which the London
players, almost universally, spoke of the proposed
match. I have heard gentlemen at the London Chess
Club, the Divan, nay, even at the St. George's, declare
repeatedly—"Mr. Staunton now knows too" well what
antagonist he will have to deal with. Depend upon it,
he will find means of backing out." This language,
repeated at every turn, necessarily caused Paul Morphy
some anxiety. On myself, however, I can conscien
tiously declare it had no effect. I did not believe it
possible that any man having so publicly accepted a
challenge, would attempt to avoid a contest, and ex
pressed this opinion to Mr. Morphy, " It will be well
not to accept all that one hears. Mr. Staunton has
numerous enemies ; do not allow yourself to be preju
diced by them, but look upon his acceptance of the
challenge as a certainty that the match will come off."
With yet unshaken confidence in Mr. Staunton's
intention to play, Paul Morphy addressed him a short
note, ten days prior to the Birmingham meeting ; to
this he received a somewhat lengthy reply, the main
point in it being that Mr. Staunton still required " a few
weeks " for preparation. Morphy responded forthwith,
90 PAUL MOEPHY.
entirely removing all ground for further excuse by
" leaving the terms to himself." Here was an unjusti
fiable mode of putting an end to diplomacy ! Mr. S.
could not continue a correspondence with one so over
whelmingly courteous, and he left London for Birming
ham without even acknowledging the receipt of the
letter.
Much argument has been built up against Paul Mor-
phy on his non-appearance in the tournament, and one
writer has endeavored to prove from it that he was
afraid to meet Mr. Staunton. Before leaving London,
the latter gentleman assured his young opponent that
he should not enter the lists, but should confine himself
to simple consultation games. Why Mr. S. changed
his mind, it is not for me to say ; although I might
argue that Mr. Staunton sallied forth courageously
when he was certain that " Achilles keeps his tent."
However, Paul Morphy's first reason for not entering
the tournay was that, his main object being to meet
Mr. Staunton, and that gentleman having stated his in
tention of confining himself to a mere consultation
game, as in past years, there was no chance of their
crossing swords, and, consequently, no use of his spend
ing two or three weeks in a contest which never could
be a decisive test of skill. But, when repeated tele
grams assured him that the English champion had de
cided on becoming a contestant, there were still stronger
reasons for his continued declination. These reasons
were the consequences of Mr. Staunton's own acts,
THE STAUNTON AFFAIB. 91
added to the opinion of nearly every London player,
that that gentleman was seeking an opportunity to
evade the match. All these occurrences had somewhat
shaken Mr. Morphy's faith, and he could not but be
suspicious of his antagonist's movements. He therefore
declinedpositively and finally to enter the tournament,
under the belief that, whether he won or lost in that con
test, it would be equally to the prejudice of the challenge.
Mr. Staunton might say, " I have beaten Morphy ;
what is the use offurther contest ? " or " He has beaten
me, Iam consequently out ofplay. It would be mad
ness to attempt a set match.11 This, and this only, pre
vented Paul Morphy from visiting Birmingham at the
commencement of the tournament. Had he gone there
when requested, every influence would have been
brought to bear to induce him to alter his determina
tion, and he merely consulted the interests of the con
test he had so much at heart, by keeping out of temp
tation until the tournament was too far under way to
admit of his entering it.
But the meeting of the association afforded an ad
mirable opportunity to obtain from Mr. Staunton the
naming of the day on which the match should com
mence. Part of the proceedings of the anniversary was
a public soiree, and Paul Morphy resolved that he
would then ask his antagonist, in the face of all present,
to fix the date. I had the pleasure of accompanying
our hero to Birmingham, and I witnessed the disagree
able contre temps which upset this admirable intention.
92 PATJX MOEPHY.
Crossing the courtyard of the college on the morning
of the soiree, we met Lord Lyttelton, JVIr. Staunton,
Mr. Avery, and, I think, Mr. Wills. Now I do not
know whether Mr. Staunton had got wind of what was
to occur, but his action certainly frustrated Morphy's
plan, and, for the moment, gave him the advantage. In
all such rencontres the man who gets the first word
has the attack, and Mr. Staunton instantly availed him
self of it. He opened fire by declaring that he was en
tirely out of play—that he had long been engaged on a
great work—that he was under bonds to his publishers
accordingly—that he might subject them to a loss of
many thousands in playing at the present time, and so
forth. But he never stated aught that appeared to in
timate the possibility of the match not coming off
eventually, his plea being that he required further time,
in order to put sufficient matter into the hands of the
printers, and to prepare himself subsequently for the
contest. It was now Morphy's turn, and the attack
changed hands. The question was put : " Mr. Staun
ton, will you play in October, in November, or Decem
ber ? Choose your own time, but let the arrangement
be final." The answer was : " Well, Mr. Morphy, if
you will consent to the postponement, I will play you
at the beginning of November. I will see my publish
ers, and let you know the exact date within a few days."
The association now looked upon the affair as decided,
and Morphy left Birmingham, firmly believing that the
match would come off after all.
THE STAUNTON APFAIE. 93
On the 28th of August, within a few days of the
above conversation, the following extraordinary an
nouncement appeared in the IllustratedLondon News :
A SPECIMEN OP ME. STAUNTON'S STYLE OP PLAT.
Anti-book.—As you surmise, "knowing the authority,"
the slang of the sporting paper in question regarding the pro
posed encounter between Mr. Staunton and the young Ameri
can is "bunkum." In matches of importance it is the invari
able practice in this country, before any thing definite is settled,
for each party to be provided with representatives to arrange
the terms and money for the stakes. Mr. Morphy has come
here unfurnished in both respects ; and, although both will no
doubt be forthcoming in due time, it is clearly impossible, until
they are, that any determinate arrangement can be made. 2.
The statement of another contemporary that the reduction in
the amount of stakes from £1000 aside to £500 was made at
the suggestion of the English amateur is equally devoid of
truth ; the proposal to reduce the amount having been made
by Mr. Morphy.
I was perfectly astonished when I read this state
ment. " Mr. Morphy had caused the stakes to be re
duced from £1000 to £500 a side." Without mention
ing Englishmen, there were Americans in London and
Paris who asserted that Morphy could be backed
against Mr. Staunton for £10,000, and the money be
raised within twenty-four hours. I mentioned this fact
to a noble lady in Paris, in order to show the confi
dence in which the young American was held, and she
replied, " Oh, as regards that, you may tell Mr. Mor
phy from me, that for £10,000 against Mr. Staunton or
94 PAUL MOEPHT.
any player in Europe, he must not go further than my
house."
I asked Morphy to demand an immediate retraction
of the unblushing statements contained in the above
paragraph, but he replied—" When a man resorts to
such means as these, he will not stop until he has com
mitted himself irremediably. Let him go on." Shortly
after1 that Mr. Staunton changed his tactics. Let not
the reader suppose I am about to represent things
otherwise than they appear on the record. Let him
take up the files of the Illustrated London News from
the time of Morphy's arrival in England to his match
with Harrwitz ; let him examine the analysis of the
games, the notes to the moves in that paper, and he
will invariably perceive that the American's antagonists
could or might have won, the necessary inference being
—" There's nothing so extraordinary about Morphy's
play, after all." A change appeared in the criticism on
the eight blindfold games at Birmingham, but, then,
Morphy stood alone, and interfered with no one's pre
tensions. When, however, the match with Harrwitz
came off, Mr. Staunton's tone was suddenly altered, and
this gentleman who, previously, had scarcely a word of
commendation for Morphy, now talked of " combina
tions which would have excited the admiration of La-
bourdonnais."
"The force of 'language' could no further go."
Mr. Morphy judged from this unexpected change
of tone that Mr. Staunton either believed that these
THE STATINTON AFFAIE. 05
contests with continental players would take up so
much of his time in Europe, that he would have to
leave without playing him; or that Mr. S. was ex
perimenting on the maxim—" There are more flies
caught with honey than with vinegar." He therefore
addressed him the following letter, and in order that
the public might no longer be under misapprehension
as to the case in hand, he sent copies of the communi
cation to those papers which had shown him marked
kindness in Europe. At the suggestion of a very
shrewd and attached American friend, a copy was also
forwarded to the editor-in-chief of the Illustrated Lon
don News.
The publication of the letter to Mr. Staunton, in so
many journals, was a judicious proceeding. News
papers are not fond of embarking in a discussion which
may probably " draw its slow length along," and ter
minate angrily. Besides, whatever the feeling might
be on the merits of the case, Mr. Staunton was cer
tainly in the position of English champion, and John
Bull does not like it to be proclaimed that one of his
sons shows the " white feather." But, at the same timel
rivalry exists between all journals as to precedence of
news, and one paper would not willingly be behind the
others in giving Morphy's letter. Accordingly, the fol
lowing Saturday, BeWs Life, The Era, The Field, and
the Sunday Times published it as follows :
96 PAUL MOBPHY.
MOKPHT'S LETTER TO STAUNTON.
Cafe de la Regence, Pabis, Oct. 6, '58.
Howahd Staunton, Esq. :
Sir,—On my arrival in England, three months since, I
renewed the challenge to you personally which the New Or
leans Chess Club had given some months previously. You
immediately accepted, but demanded a month's delay in order
to prepare yourself for the contest. Subsequently, 'you pro
posed that the time should be postponed until after the Bir
mingham meeting, to which I assented. On the approach of
the period you had fixed, I addressed you a communication,
requesting that the necessary preliminaries might be imme
diately settled, but you left London without replying to it. I
went to Birmingham for the express purpose of asking you to
put a stop to further delay by fixing a date for the opening of
our match ; but before the opportunity presented itself you
came to me, and, in the presence of Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Avery,
and other gentlemen, you stated that your time was much oc
cupied in editing a new edition of Shakespeare, and that you
were under heavy bonds to your publishers accordingly. But
you reiterated your intention to play me, and said that if I
would consent to a further postponement until the first week
in November, you would, within a few days, communicate with
me and fix the exact date. I have not heard further from you,
either privately, by letter, or through the columns of the
Illustrated London News.
A statement appeared in the chess department of that
journal a few weeks since, that " Mr. Morphy had come to
Europe unprovided with backers or seconds," the inference
being obvious that my want of funds was the reason of our
match not taking place. As you are the editor of that depart
ment of the Illustrated London News, I felt hurt that a gentle
man who had always received me at his club and elsewhere
with great kindness and courtesy, should allow so prejudicial
a statement to be made in reference to me—one, too, which is
not strictly in accordance with fact.
Pub/
WEBSTER BRANCH
< - s:;g East 76th:;
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 97
Permit me to repeat what I have invariably declared in
every chess community I have had the honor of entering, that
I am not a professional player—that I never wished to make
any skill I possess the means of pecuniary advancement—and
that my earnest desire is never to play for any stake but
honor. My friends in New Orleans, however, subscribed a
certain sum, without any countenance from me, and that sum
has been ready for you to meet a considerable time past. Since
■ my arrival in Paris I have been assured by numerous gentle
men that the value of those stakes can be immediately in
creased to any amount ; but, for myself personally, reputation
is the only incentive I recognize.
The matter of seconds cannot, certainly, offer any difficulty.
I had the pleasure of being first received in London by the St.
George's Chess Club, of which you are so distinguished a
member ; and of those gentlemen I request the honor of ap
pointing my seconds, to whom I give full authority in settling
all preliminaries.
' " In conclusion, I beg leave to state that I have addressed a
copy of this letter to the editors of the Illustrated London
c5 News, BelVs Life in London, The Era, The Field, and The
°0 Sunday Times, being desirous that our true position should
™* no longer be misunderstood by the community at large.
Again requesting you to fix the date for our commencing the
match,
I have the honor to remain, sir,
Your very humble servant,
Paul Morphy.
At the same time Mr. Morphy forwarded the fol
lowing communication to the Secretary of the St.
George's, requesting the Club to appoint his seconds in
the match :—
6
OR PAUL MOEPHY.
mobphy's letter to the st. geoege's club.
T. Hampton, Esq.,
Secretary of the St. George's Chess Club :
Sir,—I beg respectfully to inform you that the New Or
leans Chess Club has deposited £500 at the Banking House of
Messrs. Heywood & Co., London: that sum being my pro
portion of the stakes in the approaching match with Mr.
Staunton.
I shall esteem it a great honor if the St. George's Chess
Club will do me the favor of appointing my seconds in that
contest. To such gentlemen as they may appoint I leave the
settling of all preliminaries.
May I request you to lay this communication before the
members of the Club, and to oblige me with an early answer ?
I have the honor to remain, Sir,
Your very humble and obed't serv't,
Paul Morphy.
Cafe de la Regence, Paeis, Oct. 8th, 1858.
It would be difficult to imagine a more respectful
and kindly letter than that to Mr. Staunton. Since
Morphy's arrival in Europe he had considered himself
ill-used by that gentleman. His games had been an
notated in an inferentially depreciatory manner, his
victories accounted for, and bis antagonists excused.
He bad been placed in a ridiculous light before the
public by the utterly false assertion that he had come
to Europe to challenge Mr. Staunton or any one else—
without a groat in his purse. And yet be never
charges Mr. Staunton with being the author of the
falsehood, although Mr. S. is the known editor of tbe
chess column of the Illustrated London News. He
positively invites explanation in the most charitable
THE STATTNTON AFFAIR. 99
and Christian-like manner ; never even calling the state
ment in question, as he might have done, a positive un
truth, but politely characterizing it as " not strictly in
accordance with fact."
The Illustrated London News did not immediately
publish the letter, or make any remark upon it, as did
the other papers; but at the commencement of the
week, Paul Morphy received a private communication
from Mr. Staunton, as follows :—
staunton's reply to morphy.
Loudon, October 9iA, 1858.
Sir,—In reply to your letter, I have to observe that you
must be perfectly conscious that the difficulty in the way of
my engaging in a chess-match is one over which I have no con
trol. You were distinctly apprised, in answer to the extra
ordinary proposal of your friends that I should leave my
home, family, and avocations, to proceed to New Orleans for
the purpose of playing chess with you, that a long and ar
duous contest, even in London, would be an undertaking too
formidable for me to embark in without ample opportunity
for the recovery of my old strength in play, together with
such arrangements as would prevent the sacrifice of my pro
fessional engagements. Upon your unexpected arrival here,
the same thing was repeated to you, and my acceptance of
your challenge was entirely conditional on my being able to
gain time for practice.
The experience, however, of some weeks, during which I
have labored unceasingly, to the serious injury of; my health,
shows that not only is it impracticable for me to save time for
that purpose, but that by no means short of giving up a great
work on which I am engaged, subjecting the publishers to the
loss of thousands, and myself to an action for breach of contract,
could I obtain time even for the match itself. Such a sacrifice
100 PAUL MOEPHY.
is, of course, out of all question. A match at chess or cricket
(proh pudor I why don't he say, " or skittles " ?) may be a
good thing in its way, but none but a madman would for either
forfeit his engagements and imperil his professional reputation.
Under these circumstances, I waited only the termination of
your late struggle (with Mr. Harrwitz) to explain that, fet
tered as I am at this moment, it is impossible for me to under
take any enterprise which would have the effect of withdraw
ing me from duties I am pledged to fulfil.
The result is not, perhaps, what either you or I desired, as
it will occasion disappointment to many ; but it is unavoidable,
and the less to be regretted, since a contest, wherein one of the
combatants must fight under disadvantages so manifest as those
I should have to contend against, after many years' retirement
from practical chess, with my attention absorbed and my brain
overtaxed by more important pursuits, could never be ac
counted a fair trial of skill.
I have the honor to he,
Yours, &c, H. Staunton.
Paul Morphy, Esq.
P. S.—I may add that, although denied the satisfaction of a
set encounter with you at this period, I shall have much pleas
ure, if you will again become my guest, in playing you a few
games sans/afon.
Now the sending of this private communication was
a strange course for Mr. Staunton to adopt. It seemed
to be a bait for Morphy, in order that Mr. S. might use
his reply in the forthcoming article in the Illustrated
London News. The young American resolved that all
the correspondence should be public and above-board,
and did not even acknowledge the receipt of the letter.
The Saturday following, Mr. Staunton gave as excuse
for not publishing Morphy's missive, the length of M.*s
THE STAUNTON AFFAIB. 101
games, but promised it and his own response "next
week."
On Saturday the 24th of October, the two following
effusions graced the columns of Bell's Life. They had
also been sent to The Era, The Field, and The Sunday
Times / but, being anonymous, and inclosing no name
or address, were refused admittance.
ANONYMOUS LETTER, APPARENTLY FROM MR. STAUNTON.
TbinitY College, Cambridge, Oct. 9.
Mr. Editor: If you enter any chess circle just now, the
questions sure to be asked are, "How about the Staunton and
Morphy match 1 Will it come off? Suspect Staunton wants
to shirk it V Now to these questions it is not always easy to
give an answer, and yet they ought to be answered, so as to
allow of no possible misconstruction amongst either friends or
foes. There is one insinuation which may be very briefly dis
posed of, namely, that Mr. Staunton wishes to avoid playing.
Every one who knows him is perfectly aware that he is only
too ready to play at all times, and that at every disadvantage,
rather than incur even the faintest suspicion of showing the
white feather. For the benefit of those who have not the
pleasure of knowing him, or whose memories are not over tena
cious, I may cite as an example that in 1844, after vanquishing
St. Amant, upon a hint in the French papers that his opponent
had expressed a wish to have his revenge, Mr. S. at once start
ed for Paris 'once more, and challenged him to the field ; that
from 1840 to 1848 Mr. S. played with every antagonist, foreign
and English, that could be brought against him ; and at the
Chess Congress, in 1851, he rose superior to all personal con
siderations, and did not shrink from risking his hardly-earned
reputation, when the state of his health was such that he felt
he could not do himself justice ; and all this solely that the
tournament might not want the eclat which his presence could
confer upon it. But, sir, I would submit that this is not sim
102 paul MOErny.
ply a question between Mr. Staunton and Mr. Morphy. We are
all interested in it. Mr. Staunton is the representative of Eng
lish chess, and must not be allowed to risk the national honor
in an unequal contest, to gratify either the promptings of his
own chivalrous disposition or the vanity of an antagonist.
," Oh ! then you admit that Morphy is the better player V No
such thing. The question is, not as to which is the better
player, but whether, if they meet now, they can do so on equal
terms. Now, I call it an unequal contest when one player, in
tiptop practice, with nothing to distract his attention, engages
another who is quite out of play, and whose mind is harassed
by the unceasing pressure of other and more important avoca
tions. This is precisely Mr. Staunton's case. He is engaged,
in addition to his customary occupations, upon a literary work
of great responsibility and magnitude, which leaves him scarcely
a moment for any other pursuit ; certainly not for chess prac
tice. Indeed, were it merely a question of time it would be
almost impossible for Mr. Staunton to play a match at the
present moment ; but this is a matter of small importance com
pared with the mental strain which accompanies such incessant
labor. There is nothing which requires more concentration
of thought than chess. One moment of relaxed attention, and
the fruits of the most profound combination are scattered to
the winds. Real chess between two great players is no mere
recreation, but a severe study, and should never be attempted
when there is any thing else to claim the least share of that
attention which alone can insure success. If Mr. Staunton can
steal a few months from business, and devote himself wholly
to chess, by all means let him do so, and then meet Mr. Morphy
when and where he pleases, and I for one should have no fear
' for the result. If he cannot do this, I trust he will have moral
courage to say " No." If not, his friends should say it for him.
He is at least " Pawn and two " below his force of ten years
back ; and I repeat that he owes it to the English chess world,
whose representative he is, not to meet Mr. Morphy at such
odds, when he has every thing to lose and nothing to gain. In
the present instance, moreover he is under not the slightest
THE STAUNTON AFFAIE. 103
obligation to play, as Mr. Morphy gave him no intimation that
he was coming over at this particular time, and I Believe
Mr. Staunton was not aware of his intention of so doing till he
was actually en route ; and it is certainly rather a heavy price
to pay for the position which Mr. Staunton justly occupies if
he is to be held bound to enter the lists with every young ad
venturer who has nothing else to do, and who happens to envy
him the laurels so fairly won in many hundreds of encounters
with nearly all the greatest players of the day. The result of
any match which he might now play with Mr. Morphy would
prove literally nothing as to their relative chess- powers, and
I am very unwilling to believe that the American would at
all value a victory snatched under such circumstances.
Yours obediently, M. A.
P. S. Since writing the above my attention has been drawn
to a letter in Bell's Life addressed to Mr. Staunton by Mr.
Morphy, in which the latter tries to assume the character of
a much-injured and ill-used man. Now, how stands the case.
From the time when he made his sudden appearance here to the
present moment Mr. Morphy has been fully aware that the
delay in the proposed contest did not depend upon Mr. Staun
ton, who, so far as he is personally concerned, was, and is, pre
pared to play ; though it does not speak much for that man's
sense of honor who would ever think of forcing on a contest
when the inequality is so immense as it is between Mr. Mor-
phy's position and that of Mr. Staunton—the one with literally
nothing to do but to go where he lists to play chess, the other
with scarcely time for sleep and meals, with his brain in a
constant whirl with the strain upon it ; the one in the very
zenith of his skill, after ten years of incessant practice, the
other utterly out of practice for that very period. Now, let any
one read the reply of Mr. Staunton to the preposterous pro
posal on the part of Mr. Morphy's friends, that he (Mr. S.)
should go over to New Orleans, and then say whether Mr.
Morphy, after publicly announcing in the American papers
his inability, from family engagements, to visit England before
104 PAUL MOEPHY.
1859, and then choosing to come over without a moment's warn
ing, has anybody but himself to blame if he finds there is con
siderable difficulty in inducing a man with family cares, and
immersed in professional engagements, to sacrifice all for the
sake of engaging, upon the most unfair and unequal terms, in
a match at chess 1 If Mr. Morphy does not see the force of
what I have advanced, perhaps the following analogous case
may bring conviction home to him. Let us suppose some ten
or fifteen years have elapsed, and that Mr. Morphy, no longer
a chess knight-errant, eager to do battle against all comers, has
settled down into a steady-going professional man, (the bar, I be
lieve, is his destination,) and with bewildered brain is endeavor
ing to unravel the intricacies of some half-dozen lawsuits put
into his hands by clients, each of whom, in virtue of his fee, is
profoundly impressed with the belief that Mr. Morphy belongs,
body and soul, to him. Presently comes a rap at the door,
and in walks a young man, fresh from school or college, and
at once proceeds to explain the object of his visit, with:—
" Mr. Morphy, I come to challenge you to a match at chess.
I am aware that you are quite out of practice, while I am in
full swing. I freely admit that you may have forgotten more
than I am ever likely to know ; that you have a reputation to
lose, while I have one to gain ; that you have not a moment
you can call your own, whilst I have just now nothing in the
world to occupy my attention but chess. PPimporte. Every
dog has his day. I expect you to play me at all costs. My
seconds will wait upon you at once ; and if you decline I shall
placard you a craven through the length and breadth of the
Union." How would Mr. Morphy reply to such a challenge ?
Very much, I suspect, as Mr. Staunton now replies to his :—" I
have no apprehension of your skill ; I am quite willing to meet
you when I can, but I must choose my own time. I cannot put
aside my professional engagements, to say nothing of the loss
of emolument entailed by such a course, and risk my reputation
as a chess-player at a moment's notice, just to gratify your
ambition." In giving such an answer Mr. Morphy would do
perfectly right, and this is precisely the answer which Mr.
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 105
Staunton now gives to him. And why Mr. Morphy should
feel himself aggrieved I cannot possibly imagine. There is one
other point which I think deserves mention, namely that four
years ago, on the occasion of his being challenged in a similar
manner, Mr. Staunton put forth a final proposal to play any
player in the world, and to pay his expenses for coming to Eng
land. This defi remained open for six months, and he announ
ced that if not taken up in that time he should hold himself
exonerated in refusing any future challenges. I now leave the
question in the hands of the public, who will, I doubt not,
arrive at a correct appreciation of its merits.
ANOTHER VERY DISGRACEFUL ANONYMOUS LETTER.
To tlui Editor of Belts Life :
Mr. Editor,—It is a pity chess-players will not " wash
their dirty linen at home." Among a few frivolous noodles to
whom chess forms the staple of life, Mr. Morphy's jeremiads
may assume an air of importance, but to sensible men they
sound ineffably absurd, while to those who take the trouble of
looking a little below the surface they appear something worse.
For what are the plain facts of the case 1 Mr. Morphy started
for England, not to play a match with Mr. Staunton, for he was
told that that gentleman was too deeply immersed in business
to undertake one, but to take part in a general tourney to be
held in Birmingham. Upon arriving here he duly inscribed
his name on the list of combatants, and paid his entrance fee.
On hearing this, Mr. Staunton, in a spirit of what some may
call chivalry, but which, looking at his utterly unprepared
state for an encounter of this kind, ought more properly to be
termed Quixotism, entered his name also. Well, what hap
pened 1 On the mustering of the belligerents, Mr. Morphy,
who had come six thousand miles to run a tilt in this tourna
ment, was not present. In his place came a note to say par
ticular business prevented his attendance. A message was
despatched, intimating that his absence would be a great dis
appointment, &c, Ac. His reply was, that, understanding nei
6*
106 PAUL MOEPHY.
ther Mr. S. nor any other of the leading players would take
the field, he declined to do so. A second message was forward
ed, to the effect that Mr. Staunton was then in Birmingham
expressly to meet Mr. Morphy, and that he and several of the
best players were awaiting Mr. M.'s arrival to begin the com
bats. To this came a final answer, to the effect that the length
of time that the tourney would last prevented Mr. Morphy
from joining in it, but he would run down in two or three days.
Passing over the exquisite taste of this proceeding, and the dis
appointment and murmurs it occasioned, I would simply ask,
if Mr. Morphy thought himselfjustified in withdrawing from a
contest which he had come thousands of miles to take part in,
and to which he was in a manner pledged, upon pretences so
vague and flimsy, what right has he to complain if the English
player choose to withdraw from one to which he is in no respect
bound, and against which he may be enabled to offer the most
solid and unanswerable objections 1 In asking this, I beg to
disclaim all intention of provoking a chess-players' controversy,
a thing in which the public take not the slightest interest, and
for which I individually entertain supreme contempt. I am
moved to it only by the spirit of Fair Play.
Birmingham.
To these communications the editor appended the
following remarks :—
[We print the above two letters, being all the communica
tions we have received from Mr. Staunton's party relative to
Morphy's letter in our last. We regret these lucubrations are
anonymous, as not showing how far they really represent the
opinions of Mr. Staunton himself and his friends on the subject.
Regarding their style and phraseology Mr. Staunton may per
haps ask to be saved from his friends, but that is matter of
taste. We shall feel bound to print brief replies from Paul
Morphy's side. Inferiority once admitted, no matter from
what cause, if Mr. Staunton takes the ground indicated in the
above epistles, Mr. Morphy has but cheerfully and quietly to
THE STATOTON AFFAIR. 107
drop the subject, and will certainly as a gentleman never chal
lenge Mr. Staunton again. Morphy's friends may still reason
ably inquire why all this was not said in June last, instead of
giving apparent acceptance to the young American's challenge.
—Editor Bell's Life.]
The reader -will observe that Mr. Staunton (or his
friends) is the first to commence a newspaper war,
probably under the impression that lengthy protocol
ing would sink the real question at issue, or induce
Paul Morphy to reply, and commit himself. But the
latter saw too clearly what eventualities might arise,
and resolved that, in spite of all attacks, he would never
be drawn into discussion. In his letter to Mr. Staun
ton, no point was raised on which to build dispute ;
Mr. S. was merely required to say what date he fixed
for the match. The most sensitive mind could not be
hurt with any thing in the letter, and yet "Fair Play"
talks of "Mr. Morphy's jeremiads appearing something
worse than ineffably absurd." " M. A.'s " lucubration
did not obtain admittance into any other paper, but
" Fair Play's " shone resplendently in the columns of
the Illustrated London News. I have not learned who
" Fair Play " is ; nor do I wish to know.
When a man's course is straightforward and cour
ageous, he will always find defenders, and sometimes,
ardent partisans. Morphy's unassuming modesty had
made him friends in every chess community, men who
were ready to battle for him as though it were their
own quarrel. Hitherto, not a word had been said by,
108 PAUL MOEPHT.
or for, Morphy in the press, and he was determined not
to seek succor from that source. The ensuing Satur
day the following letters appeared in Bell's Life, the
first being from a friend of our hero, well acquainted
with the circumstances of the case; and the others
from, prominent members of the metropolitan chess
circles.
LETTER FROM A FRIEND OF PAUL MORPHY.
To the Editor of BelCs Life in London :
Sir,—Two letters appeared in your paper of last Sunday,
one with the signature of " M. A.," the other of " Fair Play."
In justice to fact, those communications must not remain un
answered, as the misstatements they contain might perchance
mislead some as to the good faith of Mr. Morphy. It is in no
improper spirit that I appear before your readers under my
own name, but simply because, as I intend replying to your
anonymous correspondents with facts, not with hypotheses, I
think I am bound in honor to hold myself responsible for what
I advance. The chess players of London and Birmingham are
not ignorant of -the intimacy with which Mr. Morphy has
honored me during his visit to Europe, and they will permit
me to state, that no one is better conversant with the facts
bearing on the case in point than your subscriber. "Were it
not that Paul Morphy positively refuses to reply to any attack
upon himself, preferring that his actions should be the sole
witness to his faith, I should not have troubled you or the pub
lic with this communication.
On the 4th of last February, the New Orleans Ohess Club
challenged Mr. Staunton to visit the Crescent City, " to meet
Mr. Paul Morphy in a chess match." On the 3d of April the
former gentleman replied to this deft in the Illustrated London,
News, in the following language :—" The terms of this cartel
are distinguished by extreme courtesy, and, with one notable
exception, by extreme liberality also. The exception in ques
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 109
tion, however, (we refer to the clause which stipulates that the
combat shall take place in New Orleans ! ) appears to us utterly
fatal to the match ; and we must confess our astonishment that
the intelligent gentlemen who drew up the conditions did not
themselves discover this. Could it possibly escape their pene
tration, that if Mr. Paul Morphy, a young gentleman without
family ties or professional claims upon his attention, finds it
inconvenient to anticipate by a few months an intended visit to
Europe, his proposed antagonist, who is well known for years
to have been compelled, by laborious literary occupation, to
abandon the practice of chess beyond the indulgence of an oc
casional game, must find it not merely inconvenient, but posi
tively impracticable, to cast aside all engagements, and under
take a journey of many thousand miles for the sake of a chess
encounter. Surely the idea of such a sacrifice is not admissible
for a single moment. If Mr. Morphy—for whose skill we en
tertain the liveliest admiration—be desirous to win his spurs
among the chess chivalry of Europe, he must take advantage
of his proposed visit next year ; he will then meet in this conn-
try, in France, in Germany, and in Russia, many champions
whose names must be as household words to him, ready to test
and do honor to his prowess."
No one would regard the above observations as tantamount
to aught else than " If you will come to Europe I will play
you ;" but we are relieved from the difficulty of discovering Mr.
Staunton's real meaning by his reiterated declarations that he
would play Mr. Morphy. Within a few days of the latter's
arrival in London, the English player stated his intention of
accepting the match, but postponed the commencement of it for
a month, on the plea of requiring preparation. In the month
of July tho acceptance of the challenge was announced in the
Illustrated London News. Before the expiration of the time
demanded in the first instance, Mr. Staunton requested that
the contest should not take place until after the Birmingham
meeting. At Birmingham he again declared his intention of
playing the match, and fixed the date for the first week in
November, in the presence of numerous witnesses. Mr.
110 PAUL MOEPHY.
Morphy may have erred in believing that his antagonist in
tended to act as his words led him to suppose, but it was an
error shared in common by every one then present, and par
ticularly by Lord Lyttelton, the President of the British Chess
Association, who recognized the true position of the case in his
speech to the association, stating that he " wished him (Mr.
Morphy) most cordially success in his encounters with the
celebrated players of Europe, whom he had gallantly left home
to meet ; he should be pleased to hear that he vanquished all
—except one ; but that one—Mr. Staunton—he must forgive
him, as an Englishman, for saying he hoped he would conquer
him."—(Report of Birmingham meeting, Illustrated London
News, Sept. 18, 1858.
So firmly convinced were the members of Mr. S.'s own
club, the St. George's, that he had accepted the challenge, that
a committee was formed, and funds raised to back him. What
those gentlemen must now think of Mr. Staunton's evasion of
the match can easily be understood ; but so strong was the
conviction in other chess circles that he would not play, that
large odds were offered to that effect.
" M. A.'s " reasons for not playing, or " M. A.'s " reasons
for Mr. Staunton's not playing—a distinction without a differ
ence, as we shall hereafter show—is that " he is engaged upon
a literary work of great responsibility and magnitude." Did
not this reason exist prior to Mr. Morphy's arrival in June 1
and if so, why were Mr. Morphy, the English public, and the
chess community generally, led into the belief that the chal
lenge was accepted 1 And what did Mr. Staunton mean by
stating at Birmingham, in the presence of Lord Lyttelton, Mr.
Avery, and myself, that if the delay until November were
granted him, he could in the mean while supply his publishers
with sufficient matter, so as to devote himself subsequently to
the match'?
Mr. Staunton's (I mean " M. A.'s ") remark in the letter
under review, "I (Staunton or 'M. A." indifferently) have
no apprehension of your skill," is hardly consonant with the
previous observation, that " he (Staunton) is at least pawn
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. Ill
and two below his force," unless the " English-chess-world-
representative " wishes it to be understood that he could offer
those odds to Paul Morphy. Nor is it consonant with the
fact that he has never consented to play Mr. Morphy a single
game, though asked to do so, a.nd when frequently meeting
him at St. George's. Of course the two consultation games
played by him, in alliance with "Alter," against Messrs.
Barnes and Morphy count for nothing, as they were gained by
the latter ; a result due, doubtless, to :' Alter " alone.
Mr. Morphy, in the eyes of the chess world, can have
nothing to gain from a contest with this gentleman. When
Mr. Staunton has met even players such as Anderssen, Hey-
derbrandt, and Lowenthal, he has succumbed ; whilst his
youthful antagonist can cite a roll of victories unparalleled
since Labourdonnais. And herein is the true reason for
" M. A.'s " saying, " Staunton must not be allowed to risk the
national honor (?) in an unequal contest."
In wishing "M. A." adieu, I would state that his style of
composition is so like Mr. Staunton's that no one could detect
the difference. And no one but Mr. Staunton himself would
ever set up such a defence as ': M. A.'s "—that of inferiority,
,: Pawn and two below his strength," &c. &c. And no one but
Mr. Staunton could have such intimate knowledge of his own
thoughts as we find in the following verbatim quotations from
" M. A.'s " letter : " The state of his health was such that he
felt he could not do himselfjustice "—" his mind harassed "—
" the other (Staunton) with scarcely time for sleep and meals,
with his brain in a constant whirl with the strain upon it." In
the language of Holy Writ : " No man can know the spirit of
man, but the spirit of man which is in him."
Served up in a mass of foul language, the letter signed
" Fair Play," contains an obviously untrue assertion, namely,
"Mr. Morphy started for Europe, not to play a match with Mr.
Staunton." This is rather outrageous in the face of the chal
lenge from the New Orleans Chess Club, and with Mr.
S.'s reply in the Illustrated London News of April 3d. So
much was it Mr. Morphy's desire to play him, and so little his
112 PAUL MOEPHY.
intention to engage in the Birmingham Tournament, that he
informed the secretary he did not regard such a contest as any
true test of skill.
To sum up the whole matter, I will state the naked facts.
1. Mr. Morphy came to Europe to play Mr. Staunton.
2. Mr. Staunton made everybody believe he had accepted
the challenge from Mr. Morphy.
3. Mr. Staunton allowed the St. George's Chess Club to
raise the money to back him.
4. Mr. Staunton asked for a delay of one month, in order
to brush up his openings and endings.
5. Mr. Staunton requested a postponement until after the
Birmingham meeting.
6. Mr. Staunton fixed the beginning of November for the
commencement of the match.
If all this do not mean " I will play," then is there no
meaning in language. I beg to subscribe myself, Mr. Editor,
most respectfully yours,
Frederick Milns Edge.
Hotel Breteuii., Paris, Oct. 20, 1858.
The next epistle is from the pen of a former col
league of Mr. Staunton,—a gentleman whose literary
articles in the Chess Players'1 Chronicle have earned
world-wide notoriety. In the case under examination,
he dissects Mr. Staunton's procedures with the skill ot
an able anatomist.
LETTER FROM A COADJUTOR OF MR. STAUNTON.
To the Editor of BelVe Life :—
Sir,—In the few remarks that you have appended to the
letters respecting Mr. Morphy's proposed match with Mr.
Staunton you have dealt satisfactorily with the whole matter.
The letters may be considered under two heads, one of which
THE STAUNTON AFFAIE. 113
does not refer to, the other is written upon, the actual subject.
That a few lines should be devoted not to the merits of the
case will not surprise your readers, when they remember that,
prejudice being created against, or in favor of, a particular
chess-player, questions are not viewed in their true light ; still
less will they be surprised when I take this opportunity of
doing justice to Anderssen, who is indirectly alluded to in one
of the letters. Tour Cambridge correspondent ridicules the
notion of any evasion of play on the part of Mr. Staunton.
His virtue, even approaching a fault, has been the continual
search after a match. He resought St. Amant after defeating
him, he exposed himself to every one for eight years, and thus
earned two characters, one that of the chivalrous paladin, the
other that of the representative of English chess. I wonder
that an intelligent writer, such as your correspondent is, should
not have traced the distinction between resuming play against
antagonists already beaten, or likely to be beaten, and com
mencing matches with really powerful combatants. I wonder,
also, that he did not inform your readers that at the time at
which St. Amant played with Mr. Staunton, the former, ex
cellent as he was, received odds from Des Chapelles, who was
out of play ; I wonder that, as if with perfect knowledge, he
could write upon such a chess match without alluding to Des
Chapelles' celebrated criticism on the Staunton-St. Amant
games, a criticism which, published in the Berliner Schach-
zeitung of 1848, puts both players in their true places. I won
der, again, that he should not have summed up Mr. S.'s subse
quent victories in two contests, one with Horwitz, the other
with Harrwitz. I wonder that he should not have told us
that Horwitz publicly announced his inferiority to Der Lasa.
and Hanstein, and that Harrwitz at the time mentioned re
ceived P and two moves, but in the same year defeated Hor
witz, the very player upon whose defeat, on even terms, Mr.
S.'s reputation mainly depended after his match with St.
Amant. Another instance of Mr. Staunton's chivalry is, says
your correspondent, an offer to " play any player in the world,
and to pay his expenses for coming to England." The best
114 PAUL MOEPHY.
answer to this is to quote the actual conditions of the challenge
propounded by Sir Q. Stephen on Mr. S.'s behalf in 1853 : " 1.
If the acceptor of the challenge be resident abroad, the stake
on each side shall not be less than £250. 2. If the challenge
is taken up by a player resident in this country, the amount of
stake shall be from £100 to £150. 3. That the match be
played at a private hotel," etc. After the proposal, Mr. Staun
ton gave it meaning in a public speech ( Chess Players' Chroni
cle, 1853)—" The challenge was intended for Anderssen's ac
ceptance. The £250 was to cover travelling expenses in a
foreign country." Now I wish to ask your correspondent is
there here any offer to pay a competitor's expenses 1 Or will
he read it as others do 1 "I name £100 for men whom I do
not fear, but £250 for Anderssen, whom, as he beat me in 1851,
I wish to play with. Nominally, the larger sum will cover his
expenses, but as I intend to win, he will practically have to
find £250, his expenses, and the bill at a private hotel, simply
to give me, the chivalrous Bayard, my revenge ? " After this
I trust that we shall not hear of chivalry in offering to pay the
expenses of a competitor. " M. A.," as a Cambridge man, may
be asked whether Mr. S.'s engagement " on a work of great
magnitude" (I quote his own words) is equal to Anderssen's
mathematical and philological labors? But Mr. S. is the
representative of English chess. By whose election is he
"divince particula aura 1 " Des Ohapelles was then irrever
ent, and I am an iconoclast. Is he self-elected 1 Then away
with parliaments and associations of chess, and their self-elected
speaker, " Fairplay." I never yet heard of a man calling him
self the representative of any thing English, if he will not carry
out his representation. I have heard of champions of the river
retiring. I have seen them row, and take a beating manfully.
I know that Lewis, Fraser, Slous, Walker, etc., gave up diffi
cult chess. I never yet heard of half and half play. Either
a man pretends to represent English chess, or he does not. If
he makes his claim, whether self-elected or not, he must play
(a representative, however ignorant, gives his vote in the
House of Commons), if not, he may retire into private life.
THE STAUNTON AITATE. 115
Morphy may reply to your correspondent and to his coryphceus
at the same time—" I have played for ten years. I am not 21,
but am prepared to play the best European masters now. If
I am challenged when I have taken up another pursuit I will
not do one thing. I will not accept a challenge, and months
after not carry out my acceptance. I will not, after long delay,
name even the day for commencing the match, and then have
no idea of playing. True it is that you may not fairly repre
sent English chess. Two British players separated Anderssen
from you in 1851, but, Williams being dead, Mr. Wyvill not
playing matches, and you still claiming priority in Anglo-
Saxon chess, I, an Anglo-Saxon, on behalf of the race that
speaks the same language, ask you, will you maintain or re
sign your claim 1 " This is true reasoning. The contest,
" M. A." assures us, would be unequal. Mr. S. is P and two
moves below his strength, yet he represents English play.
Where, then, are the even players, where the P and move
men 1 Is the fragrance of the P and two moves so refreshing,
that the P and move must not be classed amongst our British
roses ? Des Chapelles tells us that Philidor classed Legallc
as a player on even terms, Verdoni as one to receive pawn for
the move, Bernard, Carlier, etc., as P and move players. I
think better of English chess players than to claim, with
"M. A.," our representative in a P and two moves player.
Your Cambridge correspondent will pardon me for attempting
to refute his positions. From the style of his letter I am con
vinced that, had ho equal experience, he would write much the
same as I have done. " Fairplay's " letter may soon be dis
missed ; his argument is, that Mr. Morphy came to Europe not
to play Mr. Staunton (who had previously refused, F. P. should
have added, " to play in America," not in England), but to take
part in the tournament held by the Chess Association at Bir
mingham ; that he did not play there, sending different answers
for his non-appearance ; and, assuming this to be a fault, that
therefore any one may commit the same fault, if he can give
better reasons for the commission. In answer to this, Mr.
Morphy did not come to Europe to play at Birmingham, but
116 PAUL MOEPHY.
to test his strength with the cis-Atlantic players. It reads
almost like a joke, when a man writes seriously from Birming
ham to inform us that Morphy came 6000 miles to play the
first two or first three games, especially when every one in
London has known for more than three months that he came
to play long set matches. What was Mr. M.'s behavior ? He
came to England in June, and visited Birmingham directly.
He had been offered £70 as a retaining fee on account of the
distance travelled by him (similarly Anderssen, Staunton, etc.,
received retaining fees in 1857), but refused the offer, making,
with characteristic generosity, such excuses as " he had not
received the Birmingham letters," and that " the meeting was
adjourned for two months." In other words, Mr. Morphy,
giving up all pecuniary claim, practically paid nearly seven
eightlis of the prizes offered to public competition. Hence he
did not take part in the little contests at Birmingham. He
civilly assented to the alteration of time—he civilly left Lowen-
thal, whom he had beaten in a set match, a chance of gaining
the first prize—he civilly gave answers to telegraphic mes
sages, answers—I regret here that they were more polite than
exact—that meant the same thing, "I leave the contest to
others." If these replies did not—as short telegraphic mes
sages cannot—express Mr. M.'s meaning, it does not become
those who profited by his chivalry to write in the style of
" Fairplay ;" and I am sure that the Birmingham local com
mittee would be the first to gainsay the latter's statement He
must be satisfied, at all events, as Lowenthal, just beaten by
Morphy, met Mr. Staunton, whom he was anxious to see pitted
against the young American, and won, thereby saving criticism
as to " What was, might be, or could be." What " will be,"
we shall see. Mr. M. went to Birmingham simply to get Mr.
S. to name, in the presence of others, a day for commencing the
proposed match. Then and there Mr. S. named the 1st of
November. A representative of Englishmen should give either
a bona fide acceptance or a refusal. Morphy's motto is "Play,
not talk." He comes and goes to foreign countries to seek
play. He is the " H Puttino " of the New World. At the risk,
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 117
then, sir, of being called a " frivolous noodle " by your very
elegant correspondent " Fairplay," I shall take the liberty of
believing what an honest man like Morphy says. I shall not
hold Staunton to be the representative of English chess, but
shall look to younger and more consistent players as far more
likely to maintain what your correspondents call the national
honor, and am, sir, your obedient servant,
An English Chess Playee.
East Sheen, Oct. 21, 1858.
The next two letters, also to the editor of Belt's
Idfe in London, do not profess to argue the question,
but are merely argumenta ad hominum. They serve
to show how warm a feeling in his favor Mr. Morphy
had evoked amongst the fellow-countrymen of Mr.
Staunton.
To the Editor of BelVa Life :
Me. Editor : The general opinion of English chess players
is simply that Staunton is afraid of Morphy. If, as his friends
say, he is out of condition, let him train, or give up the cham
pionship like a man. No one would blame him, at his age and
with his avocation, for declining severe matches ; but in that
case he must resign the belt into fresher hands. The champion
ceases to be the champion when he is no longer able or willing
to take up whatever gauntlet is flung down. Let the chival
rous boy who has crossed the Atlantic to challenge the chess
of the Old World have fair play at the hands of Englishmen.
If we cannot beat him fairly, let us not seek to put him off
with shabby dodges. Yours, &c.
The Ex-President of Peovincial Chess Club.
Oct. 20th.
This is sound, straightforward, English common
sense.
118 PAUL MORPHY.
To the Editor of JBelVa Life :—
Me. Editor: Mr. Staunton either is, or is not, the chess
champion of England, ready to defend his " belt " against all
comers. If he be the champion, he has no right to plead " want
of practice," "literary avocations," or such like excuses, for
" semper paratus " must be a " champion's " motto. If he be
not the champion, why then did he hold himself out as such
by inviting or accepting Mr. Morphy's challenge 1 Why did
he not say at the first, " I was the champion of England some
years ago, but (sohe senescentem) I am not so now ; I am only a
private gentleman, engaged in literary pursuits, and so forth."
His true position would then have been clearly understood, and
I am sure Mr. Morphy would never have sought to disturb his
retirement. But will the English chess-playing public allow
Mr. Staunton to put in this plea after all that has passed, and
after all his declarations of willingness to play ? I trust, sir,
that, if such an excuse be allowed, at least we shall have the
candor to acknowledge ourselves fairly vanquished, and not
pretend that we have escaped defeat because we have "pru
dently " declined the contest. "We must be on our guard for
the future how we proclaim as our " champion " a gentleman
who " retires into private life " the moment a formidable rival
appears. Yours, &c,
Schack.
The week following the publication of the above
letters, Mr. Staunton published in the Illustrated Lon
don News part of Mr. Morphy's communication, with
the private answer sent a fortnight before. The para
graph in the former, relating to Mr. S.'s iniquitous
statement of Morphy's arriving in Europe without
funds, was entirely ignored, and that, too, in the face
of its having been given in extenso two weeks previ
ously by four weekly London papers, and a copy sent
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 119
to his editor-in-chief. Quos Deus vult perdere, prius
dementat 'was never more thoroughly exemplified, and
the course pursued proves incontestably that Mr. Staun
ton possesses a certain kind of courage which does not
stick at trifles. Was it presumable that a man of his
experience would dare to commit such an unwarranta
ble act, or did he think that Mr. Morphy would pass
over, in silence, such a suppression ?
The animus was now evident. Mr. Staunton had
never awarded that praise to the young American's
contests which every other chess editor and player in
England and Europe had invariably bestowed : still, no
action could be taken on this. Mr. Staunton had con
tinually postponed the commencement of the match :
no handle to take hold of was offered here, since he
had, as continually, asserted his desire to play. ,Mr.
Staunton had announced that the stakes were reduced
from £1,000 a side to £500 at Mr. Morphy's request;
his antagonist was still silent. Mr. Staunton had pub
lished a knowingly untrue statement, and, when the
sufferer complains in such manner as to afford him the
utmost latitude for explanation and apology, he cancels
the paragraph, and does not even deign to refer to it
in his reply. Mr. Staunton caps the climax by declin
ing finally to play the match. Thus Mr. Staunton's
response to the New Orleans Chess Club, so far as he
was concerned, meant nothing. His acceptance of Mor
phy's challenge in London, and the statement in hia
paper that the match would come off, meant nothing.
120 PAUL MORPHY.
His postponements meant nothing. His declarations
before Lord Lyttelton and other gentlemen, at Bir
mingham, meant nothing.
Thus there was apparently an end ta the whole mat
ter. But an eventuality presented itself:—Mr. Staun
ton had shown himself capable of perverting facts to his
own benefit, and might he not assert ultimately that
Mr. Morphy was the cause of the match not taking
place ? Could he not, too, at the moment our hero
was quitting Europe, declare his readiness to play,
knowing that Morphy must be oflf? He had so acted
towards Herr Anderssen after the tournament in 1851,
declaring that " the German saw fit to leave," although
he was well aware that the Professor's collegiate duties
at Breslau rendered it impossible for him to stay in
England and play the proposed match. Paul Morphy
therefore closed up every avenue of eventual misrepre
sentation, by the following address to Lord Lyttelton,
in his official quality of President of the National Asso
ciation of English Chess-players :
MORPHY's APPEAL TO THE BRITISH CHESS ASSOCIATION.
To the Bight Son. Lord Lyttelton, President of the British Chess Asso
ciation :
My Lord,—On the 4th of last February the Chess Club of
New Orleans gave a challenge to your countryman, Mr. How
ard Staunton, to visit that city and engage in a match at chess
with me. On the 3d of April Mr. Staunton replied to this defi
in the Illustrated London News, characterizing the terms of the
cartel as "being distinguished by extreme courtesy," but ob
jecting to so long a journey for such a purpose, and engaging
THE STAUNTON AITAIK. 121
me " to anticipate by a few months an intended voyage to Eu
rope." Believing that " a journey of many thousand miles "
was the only obstacle in the way of our meeting, I made imme
diate preparation, and, within two months, I had the pleasure
of repeating the challenge personally in the rooms of the St.
George's Chess Club. I need scarcely assure you, my lord,
that Mr. Staunton enjoys a reputation in the United States un
surpassed by that of any player in Europe since the death of
Labourdonnais, and I felt highly honored when he accepted my
challenge, merely requesting a lapse of one month for the pur
pose of preparing himself for the encounter. Within a short
period subsequently, Mr. Staunton obtained my consent to a
postponement until after the annual meeting of the British
Chess Association. A week prior to that event I addressed
him in the following terms :—
" Dear Sir,—As we are now approaching the Birmingham
meeting, at the termination of which you have fixed our match
to commence, I think it would be advisable to settle the pre
liminaries during this week. Would you be good enough to
state some early period when your seconds can meet mine, so
that a contest which I have so much at heart, and which from
your eminent position excites so much interest in the chess
world, may be looked upon as a fait accompli.—I am, dear sir,
yours very respectfully, Paul Morpht."
Not receiving a satisfactory reply to this communication, I
again wrote Mr. Staunton as follows :—'
" Dear Sir,—I must first apologise for not replying to your
previous communication. As you observe, my numerous con
tests must be the excuse for my remissness.
" It is certainly a high compliment to so young a player as
myself that you, whose reputation in the chess arena has been
unapproached during so many long years, should require any
preparation for our match. Immediately on my arrival in
England, some two months since, I spoke to you in reference
to our contest, and, in accepting the challenge, you stated that
you should require some time to prepare, and you proposed a
period for commencing, which I accepted.
1
122 PAUL MOEPHT.
"I am well aware that your many engagements in the lite
rary world must put you to some inconvenience in meeting me,
and I am therefore desirous to consult your wishes in every re
spect. Would you please state the earliest opportunity when
those engagements will permit the match coming off, such time
being consistent with your previous preparation 1
" The 1 few weeks ' referred to in your favor seem to be
rather vague, and I shall feel highly gratified by your fixing a
definite period for the contest. / leave the terms entirely to
yourself.—I remain, dear sir, yours very respectfully,
" Paul Morphy."
Mr. Staunton left London for Birmingham without deigning
to reply.
I attended the annual meeting of the Association for the ex
press purpose of requesting a definite period for commencing
the match. In the presence of your lordship and other gentle
men, Mr. Staunton fixed that commencement for the forepart
of November, promising that he would inform me of the precise
date within a few days. I heard nothing further from him on
the subject. Tour lordship will have remarked from the above
that Mr. Staunton has thus obtained three separate and distinct
postponements.
The approach of November induced me to again address Mr.
Staunton, which I did on the 6th of the present month. As
my letter was published in numerous London journals, and was
also sent to the editor-in-chief of the Illustrated London News,
I had a right to expect a public answer, particularly as I had
complained of a false and damaging statement in the chess de
partment of that paper. On the 16th Mr. Staunton stated edi
torially that—
" Mr. Morphy's games this week exclude both his letter and
Mr. Staunton's reply. If we can spare space for them they
shall be given in the next number."
On the 9th inst., within a short time of receiving my letter,
Mr. Staunton replied to me privately. As my communication
was a public one, I was somewhat surprised at the course pur
sued by a gentleman holding such a position as Mr. Staunton,
THE STAUNTON AFFAIK. 123
and did not, therefore, even acknowledge receipt, fearing that I
might thereby be induced unintentionally to commit myself.
Having promised my letter and his reply, Mr. Staunton pub
lished what he represents as such in the Illustrated London
News of the 23d inst. He has thereby transferred the question
from the chess arena to the bar of public opinion, and as a
stranger in a foreign land—a land which has ever been the
foremost in hospitality—I claim justice from Englishmen.
The most important portion of my letter Mr. Staunton has
dared to suppress. I refer to the following paragraph, pub
lished by various journals, but omitted by the Illustrated Lon
don News, although sent to the editor of that paper as well as
to Mr. Staunton himself:—
"A statement appeared in the chess department of that jour
nal a few weeks since, that 1 Mr. Morphy had come to Europe
unprovided with backers or seconds,' the inference being obvi
ous—that my want of funds was the reason of our match not
taking place. As you are the editor of that department of the
Illustrated London News, I felt hurt that a gentleman who had
always received me at his club and elsewhere with great kind
ness and courtesy, should allow so prejudicial a statement to
be made in reference to me ; one, too, which is not strictly in
accordance with fact"
On my first arriving in England, I informed Mr. Staunton
that my stakes would be forthcoming the moment he desired,
and I was therefore utterly at a loss to account for so unwar
rantable a statement being made in reference to me, unless with
the intention of compromising my position before the public.
And I would ask your lordship's attention to the terms of the
suppressed paragraph, couched in such language as to avoid all
insinuation of animus, and affording Mr. Staunton the amplest
opportunity for explaining away the difficulty. The course
pursued by that gentleman cannot do otherwise than justify
me in ascribing to him the very worst of motives in publishing
what he knew to be incorrect, in denying me common justice,
and in giving as the whole of my letter what he knew to ie only
apart of it.
124 PAUL MOEPHT.
From Mr. Staunton I now appeal to the great body of Eng
lish chess players, I appeal to the British Chess Association, I
appeal to yourself, my lord, as the Mmcenaa of English chess ;
and. as I visited your country for the purpose of challenging
Mr. Staunton, which challenge he has repeatedly accepted. I
now demand of you that you shall declare to the world it is
through no fault of mine that this match has not taken place.—■
I have the honor to remain, my lord, yours very respectfully,
Paul Morphy.
Cafe de la Regence, Pabjs, October 26, 1858.
To this appeal, Lord Lyttelton made the following
admirable reply, which covers the whole ground :—
LORD LYTTELTON ON HOWARD STAUNTON.
Bodmin, Cornwall, Sd November.
Dear Sir :—I much regret that I have been unable till to-day
to reply to your letter of the 26th October, which only reached
me on the 1st inst. "With regard to the appeal which you
have made to the British Chess Association, I may perhaps be
allowed to say, as its President, that I fear nothing can be done
about the matter in question by that body. It is one of recent
and rather imperfect organization ; its influence is not yet fully
established. It is practically impossible to procure any effec
tive meeting of its members at present, and it is doubtful
whether it could take any step in the matter if it were to meet.
I must therefore be understood as writing in my private char
acter alone, but, at the same time, you are welcome, should
you think it worth while (which I can hardly think it can be),
to make further use of this letter, in any manner you may
wish.
Your letter has but one professed object ; that we should
declare that it is not your fault that the match between your
self and Mr. Staunton has not taken place. To this the reply
might be made in two words. I cannot conceive it possible
that any one should impute that failure to you, nor am I
THE STAUNTON AITATE. 125
aware that any one has done so. But, in the circumstances,
I shall not perhaps be blamed, if I go somewhat further into
the matter. In the general circumstances of the case, I con
ceive that Mr. Staunton was quite justified in declining the
match. The fact is understood that he has for years been en
gaged in labors which must, whatever arrangements might be
made, greatly interfere with his entering into a serious contest
with a player of the highest force and in constant practice, and
so far the failure of the match is the less to be regretted. Nor can
I doubt the correctness of his recent statement, that the time
barely necessary for the match itself could not be spared,
without serious loss and inconvenience both to others and to
himself.
But I cannot but think that in all fairness and considerate-
ness, Mr. Staunton might have told you of this long before he
did. I know no reason why he might not have ascertained it,
and informed you of it in answer to your first letter from
America. Instead of this, it seems to me plain, both as to the
interview at which I myself was present, and as to all the other
communications which have passed, that Mr. Staunton gave
you every reason to suppose that he would be ready to play
the match within no long time. I am not aware, indeed (nor
do I perceive that you have said it), that you left America
solely with the view of playing Mr. Staunton. It would,
no doubt, make the case stronger, but it seems to me as unlike
ly as that you should have come, as has been already stated
(anonymously, and certainly not with Mr. Staunton's concur
rence), in order to attend the Birmingham Tournament.
With regard to the suppressions of part of your last letter,
I must observe, that I am not aware how far Mr. Staunton is
responsible for what appears in the Illustrated London News.
But whoever is responsible for that suppression, I must say,
that I cannot see how it is possible to justify or excuse it.
I greatly regret the failure of a contest which would have
been of much interest, and the only one, as I believe, which
could have taken place with you, with any chance of its re
dounding to the credit of this country. I still more regret
126 PAUL MOEPHY.
that any annoyance or disappointment should have been under
gone by one, who—as a foreigner—from his age, his ability,
and his conduct and character, is eminently entitled to the
utmost consideration in the European countries which he may
visit. I am, dear sir, yours truly,
Lyttelton.
Paul Morphy, Esa.
Mr. Morphy could not do otherwise than avail him
self of the permission accorded him by Lord Lyttelton,
to publish so full a justification. He thus put himself
right on the record, and prevented any further mis
representation. Numerous clubs in the United King
dom took action upon the letter, and the following
resolution of the Manchester Chess Club—one of the
most influential in the country—shows what was the
general feeling upon the subject.
RESOLUTION OF THE MANCHESTER CHESS CLUB.
At a special meeting, called in compliance with a requisi
tion numerously signed, it was resolved—
" That this meeting, while recognizing Mr. Staunton's
right to decline any chess challenge which he might find in
convenient and incompatible with his other engagements,
deems it proper (inasmuch as Lord Lyttelton has only felt
himself at liberty to answer, in his private capacity, Mr.
Morphy's appeal to him as President of the British Chess As
sociation) to declare its full concurrence in the opinion express
ed by Lord Lyttelton in his letter to Mr. Morphy, of the 3d
inst., that in all fairness and considerateness Mr. Staunton
should have told Mr. Morphy, long before he did, that he de
clined the proposed match.
" That copies of this resolution be sent to Mr. Morphy, Mr. -
Staunton, and the editor of the Illustrated London News."
17th November, 1858.
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 127
Mr. Staunton was able to cite but one instance of
an association sufficiently hardy to oppose its opinion
to the verdict of Lord Lyttelton. A select circle of
Mr. S.'s friends, the close-borougb Cambridge Uni
versity Cbess Club, ventured tbe following resolutions,
which were forwarded for publication to several jour
nals, as a would-be antidote to that of the Manchester
Club.
RESOLUTIONS OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY CHESS CLUB.
At a meeting of the Cambridge University Chess Club,
held November 26, 1858, the following resolutions were passed
unanimously;
" That the Cambridge University Chess Club, recognizing
the important services rendered by Mr. Staunton to the cause
of chess, and seeing with regret the ungenerous attacks which
have for some time past been directed against him by a certain
section of the press, notorious for its anti-English tendencies,
are of opinion
" 1. That under the peculiar circumstances in which Mr.
Staunton found himself placed, it was scarcely possible for him
to do otherwise than decline the proposed match with Mr.
Morphy.
" 2. That his allowing the challenge to remain open so long
as there appeared the slightest hope of his being able to play,
was, beyond all question, the proper course to be adopted by
one really anxious for the encounter."
I cannot do better than give the remarks upon the
above resolutions by the " Era " newspaper ; they
make mince-meat of the Cantabs' reasonings. The
" Era " answers thus :—
128 PATO MOEPHY.
THE " ERA'S " REMARKS.
" It will be seen that the Cambridge University Chess Club
constitutes itself the champion of Mr. Staunton against " un
generous attacks directed against him by a section of the press,
notorious for its anti-English tendencies." 'We wish the Cam
bridge gentlemen had pointed out the section they refer to.
We were not aware that chess was of any country, or that
there were any anti-English tendencies in connection with it.
The fact is, that the section of the metropolitan chess press,
conducted by foreigners who have made their homes in England,
has hitherto refrained from expressing any judgment in the
dispute, contenting itself with giving the letters ungarbled and
unmutilated ; but in chess columns, conducted by Englishmen,
have appeared the remarks pointed at by the Cambridge Club ;
so here we have the anomaly of anti-English Englishmen.
With regard to the resolutions which follow the preamble, it is
impossible to cavil at. (1.) There is no doubt that under what
are delicately called " the peculiar circumstances," Mr. Staun
ton was right in not playing Mr. Morphy. If a man feels be
would have no chance, it would be foolish for him to venture on
a contest. Resolution (2) is not so impervious to criticism.
Coming from so learned a quarter as Cambridge, we are rather
disappointed at the looseness of its wording. The intention, of
course, was to justify Mr. Staunton in taking tho course he has
adopted, but it does not do so. It says he was right in " allow
ing the challenge to remain open " till the last moment. If,
indeed, Mr. Staunton had kept the challenge open as long as
possible no one would have blamed him, but that was precisely
what he did not do. He accepted the challenge, and thereby
closed with it, and his friends subscribed funds for the stakes.
What Mr. Staunton did allow to remain open was the day ;
and, after repeated promises to name it, that has been postponed
to—never. This is what is complained of in Mr. Staunton's
conduct, and Lord Lyttelton was right, and expressed the
judgment of the great majority of English chess players, when
he wrote that Mr. Staunton might and ought, at an earlier date,
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 129
to have informed Mr. Morphy of his inability to play. We say
nothing of the paragraphs which have appeared in the journal
of which Mr. Staunton is the chess editor, insinuating that Mr.
Morphy's money was not ready, because he (Mr. Staunton)
may not be answerable for them, but confine ourselves, in con
formity with our English tendencies, to an expression of our
concurrence in the views of an English nobleman, the whole of
the members of the Metropolitan Chess circle, and those of the
provincial clubs who have communicated with us on the sub
ject."
Mr. Staunton's short-sighted policy with regard to
Paul Morphy, had not only caused him to be condemn
ed vis-A-vis of that gentleman, but his former career
was also dragged into discussion and severely com
mented upon. The following letter appeared in the
" Field " a week after the appeal to Lord Lyttelton ;
and, as will be seen, it is from the pen of a once warm
friend of Mr. Staunton :—
MS. STAUNTON AND MR. MORPHY.
Sin,—I am desirous, with your permission, of saying a few
words upon the relative position now occupied by Messrs.
Staunton and Morphy, whose proposed encounter has been
brought to such an unfortunate, though not unforeseen, termi
nation. Now I am well acquainted with Mr. Staunton. I have
been concerned on his behalf in the arrangement of one of his
(proposed) matches, with a player whom he has never ceased
to vituperate since that period when I endeavored so strenu
ously to bring them together. I have fought Mr. Staunton's
battles for him by pen and by word of mouth on sundry occa
sions. I wish, indeed, I could do so now ; for, as a chess player,
and as a laborer in the field of chess literature, I place him on
the very highest pinnacle. Since the time of M'Donnell, I be
1*
130 PAUL MOEPHY.
lieve that no player in this country—not to sa)' Europe—has
ever reached so high a standard as was attained by our English
champion when he did battle with St. Araant. Since that time
he has been the rather concerned in editorial duties, and in inti
mating to real or imaginary correspondents in the Chess Play
ers' Chronicle, (now defunct.) and in the Illustrated, London
News, (full of vitality.) what he could do on the chequered
field, if those who dreamed of approaching him could but mus
ter sufficient money to meet his terms, or what other and pecu
liar restrictions (owing to delicate health and " nervous irrita
bility ") he should impose upon any adversary with whom he
engaged himself.
From what I have seen of Mr. Staunton, I should think the
term "delicate" thoroughly inapplicable to his condition, but
that he is highly irritable, and nervously susceptible of all an
tagonistic impressions, no one who knows him can for a mo
ment doubt.
IIow easy 'tis, when destiny proves kind,
With full-spread sails to run before the wind.
So sings the poet. Destiny did prove kind to Mr. Staunton
when he played his match in Paris with St. Amant. The Eng
lishman made the most of it, and achieved a splendid triumph.
At the great Chess Tournament in 1851 destiny was not quite so
obliging. The champion from whom we expected so much
had a head-wind against him, and he was beaten. I saw much
of Mr. Staunton at that time. I believe—in all justice let it be
said—that he was thoroughly unnerved, that he was utterly
unequal to an arduous contest, and that his great merits ought
not to be gauged by his play upon the occasion alluded to. He
deserved (he did not receive, for he had never given the same
to others) every sympathy under circumstances which were
intensely mortifying to himself , personally, and to us nation
ally.
Since 1851 it has been pretty generally understood that
Mr. Staunton's irritability has not diminished, and that his lit
erary responsibilities have the rather multiplied. Consequently
we had no right to expect, nationally, that he would again be
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 131
our champion, and contend with the young American, whose
reputation ran before him to Europe, and has accompanied him
ever since his arrival from the United States. We had no right,
I say, to expect this, but for one reason. That reason is to be
found in the chess department of the Illustrated London News,
of which Mr. S. is the acknowledged editor. It has been there
constantly implied—nay, it has been over and over again une
quivocally stated—during the last eight years, that the van
quisher of St. Amant is still the English champion; that as
such he has a right to dictate his own terms, and that if any
one is prepared to accede to those terms, he (Mr. Staunton) is
prepared for the encounter. It matters not whether the cor
respondents to whom these implications are made are real or
(as is generally supposed) imaginary. It is sufficient that cer
tain statements are made with the intention of conveying a
false impression to the public as regards Mr. Staunton's desire
to play and capability of playing. This is where he is so greatly
to blame ; this is the point on which he has alienated from
himself during the last few years so many of his warmest
friends. No one blames Mr. Staunton for not playing with
Mr. Morphy ; but every one has a right to blame Mr. Staunton
if, week after week, he implies in his own organ that there is a
chance of a match, if all that time he knows that there is no
chance of a match whatever. This, I affirm deliberately, and
with great pain, is what Mr. Staunton has done. It has been
done times out of number, and this in ways which have been
hardly noticed. If the editor of the chess department of the
Illustrated London News merely states as a piece of news that
Mr. Morphy is coming to England from America to arrange a
match at chess with Mr. Staunton, and Mr. Staunton (being
that editor himself, and being burdened with literary responsi
bilities which he knows to be so great as to prevent his playing
an arduous contest) fails to append to such statement another,
to the effect that he has given up public chess, and has no in
tention of again renewing it, he is not acting in a straightfor
ward and honorable manner. But much more than this has
132 PAUL MOEPHT.
been effected. So solicitous has Mr. Staunton been to trade
as long as possible upon his past reputation, that it has been
written in the Illustrated London News since Mr. Morphy's
arrival in this country, that he (Mr. M.) is not prepared with
the necessary stakes for an encounter with Mr. Staunton.
What truth there was in such averment may be gathered from
the admirable letter in your impression of last Saturday from
the young American to Lord Lyttelton. Why is not Mr. Staun
ton content to say (what those who like him best would bo
glad to be authorized to say for him): (iI have done much
for the cause of chess, but I am not equal to what I once was ;
and I am hampered by engagements which do not admit of
my playing matches now. I cannot risk my reputation under
such manifest disadvantages as would surround me in a contest
with Mr. Morphy." The public at large would then respect
Mr. Staunton's candor, and have a larger appreciation than
they now have of his great merits. It is true that Mr. Staun
ton has said this at last ; but he has been forced to say with a
bad grace what ought long ago to have been said voluntarily
with a good one.
These unpleasant (not to use a harsher term) circumstances
are the more to be deplored at present because of the frank,
courteous, and unassuming conduct of Mr. Morphy upon every
occasion since he set foot in Europe. I have seen him play in
London and in Paris ; and I have noted those obliging and un
obtrusive manners which secure to him the good-will of every
body, and surround him by troops of friends. How is it that
Mr. Staunton is not surrounded by troops of friends likewise ?
Is he not a scholar and a gentleman 1 Has he not many quali
fications for the distinguished literary position he now fills ?
Undoubtedly he has. But he has never been able to merge the
personal in the general—to regard his own individuality as
other than the first consideration. Brought into contact many
years ago with players who were not refined gentlemen, an an
tagonism was immediately established between the two parties.
Unhappily for the chess world, literary opportunities were
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR.
afforded in the columns of rival newspapers for the indulgence
Of malevolent feelings on both sides. To this warfare there has
never been a cessation. So notorious is the fact of its existence
that it is impossible to rely, in one paper, upon any statement
having reference to the London Chess Club ; it is equally im
possible to rely, in the other, upon any statement affecting the
St. George's Club. Ladies who are devoted to " Caissa," and
write to the Illustrated London News, are not aware of these
things. Imaginary correspondents, of course, are utterly ig
norant of them. But we who live in and about London, who
have been behind the scenes at both theatres, know how much
reliance is to be placed upon a certain kind of chess intelligence
with which two rival journals regale their correspondents and
the general public every week. Look even at the Illustrated
London News of last Saturday, and you will see a letter pro
fessing to come from Birmingham, (I think it is a misprint for
Billingsgate,) which is absolutely disgraceful. Why should
Mr. Staunton try to bolster up his reputation (which is Euro
pean) with sentiments and language of a purely (I mean im
purely) local character? Why is one player always to be
cried up at the expense of another 1 Why are ungenerous and
ungentlemanly insinuations to be made against a youth whose
conduct has been characterized by so much unobtrusiveness
and so much good feeling as that of Mr. Morphy 1 Why is
Mr. Harrwitz always to be run down in the Illustrated London
News? Why are Mr. Lowenthal and Mr. Brien, quondam
editorial proteges, now never spoken of but in terms of dis
paragement 1 Why should Mr. Staunton call upon the cercle
at Paris to insist upon Mr. Harrwitz progressing with his
match with Mr. Morphy at a more rapid pace, when the Ger
man had pleaded ill health as the cause of the delay 1 Who
has drawn so largely upon the patience of the British public, on
the score of ill health and " palpitations of the heart," et hoe
genus omne, as the generous and sympathizing writer who thus
stabs a rival player when he is down 1 It is time, sir, that
these things should cease. We are all weary of them. What
134 PAUL MOEPIIY.
tetter opportunity for crying a truce to these mean and petty
warfares of the pen than the one which now presents itself?
Mr. Staunton is our champion no longer. We must turn to
some one else to uphold the national flag upon that field where
Labourdonnais and M'Donnell fought and struggled. So
anxious am I that good feeling should be restored, and that we
should be united as I see chess players united in other coun
tries, that I have put together hurriedly these reflections, which,
however imperfect they may be, are true and just. And be
cause I have observed that the chess department of The Field,
which you so ably edit, is peculiarly free from personalities and
remarkably authentic in its information, I ask you to help mo
in the good cause by giving publicity to this letter. I am not
ashamed of what I have written, nor do I desire to shrink from
the responsibility of revealing my name, if it is necessary. I
enclose my card, as a guarantee, and prefer, if it meets your
views, to appear only under the name of—
Pawn-and-Two.
It is difficult in any country, and quite impossible
in England, to struggle successfully against public
opinion. Mr. Staunton had kept silence as long as
possible, but there was but one course for him to pur
sue, namely, in one way or another to own that he was
wrong. The chess circles in which he was once the
most welcome of all comers, now turned on him the
cold shoulder; the first clubs in the kingdom, and
amongst them the St. George's, were signifying their
desire to offer Paul Morphy public dinners ; such emi
nent players as Captain Kennedy volunteered sub
scriptions towards a national testimonial for the young
American, not more as an evidence of their admiration
for him as a master in the game, than as marking their
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR. 135
esteem for him as a man.* Mr. Staunton could no
longer resist such a pressure, and besides, he owed
some apology to his paper for the suppression of the
famous paragraph ; he therefore addressed the follow
ing communication to his chief, the editor of the Illus
trated London News :
me. staunton's explanation.
To the Editor of the Illustrated London, News ;
Sir,—My attention has this moment been directed to a
passage in a letter of Lord Lyttelton to Mr. Morphy,
wherein allusion is made to the " suppression " of a portion of
Mr. Morphy's letter to me, which you published, together with
my answer, in your paper for Oct. 23. I have not seen the
epistle to which Lord Lyttelton's is a reply ; but I plead guilty
at once to having omitted, when sending you Mr. Morphy's
jeremiade and my answer, a couple of paragraphs from the
former. My reasons for omitting them were, in the first
* captain Kennedy's opinion op paul mobpht.
To the Editor of die Era :
Sib,—As I understand that Mr. Morphy contemplates another
visit to England before his return to America, will you permit me,
through your columns, respectfully to suggest to the chess com
munity of this country the propriety of offering him a public enter
tainment, together with some adequate testimonial which may serve
to mark our sense of his transcendent ability as a chess player ; and
also our appreciation of him as a chivalrous, high-spirited, and
honorable man—a character which I hope Englishmen know how
to value far more than even any amount of skill at chess.
Should this proposal take any definite shape, I shall be happy to
be allowed to contribute £5 towards its accomplishment.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
A. A. Keneedt.
Bath, Jan. 1, 1859.
[Captain Kennedy, we feel sure, in this communication, expresses
the feeling of a large majority of English chess players, and we have
little doubt but that his suggestion will be entertained and carried
out. For ourselves we shall be happy to aid to the utmost in any
plan that is formed for the purpose.]
136 PAUL MOEPHY.
place, because they appeared to me to be irrelevant to the
main point between Mr. Morphy and me ; secondly, because I
know if the letters extended very much -beyond the limited
space you apportion to chess, they were pretty certain of being
omitted, or, as Mr. Morphy phrases it, " suppressed " altogether ;
and, thirdly, because I had already written to a friend in Paris
with whom, through my introduction, Mr. M. was living upon
intimate terms, an explanation touching the notice Mr. Morphy
professes to be. so concerned at; and from my friend's reply,
which intimated that Mr. M. was about to write to me in an
amicable spirit, I of course supposed there was an end of the
matter, and that I should be permitted to pursue my work,
and this young gentleman his play, without further misunder
standing. That, after this, and in the face of my endeavors
through your Journal to set his blindfold and other chess ex
ploits before the public in the most advantageous light—in the
face of every civility which to the extent of my opportunities,
I have endeavored to show him from the first moment of his
arrival in this country—he could reconcile it to his sense of
honor and honesty, to impute to me a wilful suppression of
any portion of his letter, does, indeed, amaze me, and I can
only account for it, by supposing he is under the influence of
very ill advisers, or that his idea of what is honorable and
honest, is very different from what I had hoped and believed it
to be. I am, sir, yours, &c,
H. Staunton.
November 15.
P. S. That you may judge with what likelihood and with
what propriety Mr. Morphy attributes the omission of the
excerpta to sinister motives, I enclose them, and shall be
obliged by your giving them the additional publicity he craves,
as soon as your space permits :—
"A statement appeared in the chess department of that
Journal, (The Illustrated London News) a few weeks since,
that ' Mr. Morphy had come to Europe unprovided with backers
or seconds'—the inference being obvious, that my want of
funds was the reason of our match not taking place. As you
THE STAUNTON AITAIB. 187
are the editor of that department of the Illustrated London
News, I felt much hurt that a gentleman who had always
received me at his club and elsewhere, with great kindness and
courtesy should allow so prejudicial a statement to be made in
reference to me ; one, too, which is not strictly consonant with
fact."
" In conclusion, I beg leave to state, that I have addressed
a copy of this letter to the editors of the Illustrated London
News, BelVs Life in London, The Era, The Field, and The Sun
day Times ; being most desirous that our true position should
no longer be misunderstood by the community at large. I
again request you to fix the date for our commencing the
match."
Mr. Morphy was not desirous of prolonging the dis
cussion, after so full and entire an indorsement from
Mr. Staunton's fellow-countrymen, or he could easily
have driven that gentleman further into the mire. But
Mr. S. made two statements in the above letter, which
Paul Morphy could not allow to pass unrebuked, and
he accordingly denied, publicly, that he had received
any introduction whatever from that gentleman, or that
he had even hinted his intention of writing Mr. Staun
ton, amicably or otherwise.
The latter part of the letter is in questionable taste.
As though Mr. S. had acquired any right to misrepre
sent facts, publish misstatements, and deny reparation,
on account of " having set his (M.'s) blindfold and other
chess exploits before the public in the most advanta
geous light."
By so doing, Mr. Staunton merely fulfilled his edi
torial duty ; for the entire chess world was on the qui
138 PAUL MOEPHT.
-
vive after Morphy's exploits. Sis games were being
published throughout Europe, to the exclusion ofnearly
all others, and surely Mr. S. could not allow his paper
to be behind other journals. But he knew full well that,
after the first fortnight or three weeks, Mr. Morphy
never gave him a single partie, being hurt at the ungen
erous treatment evinced towards him in the notes. - Mr.
Staunton was using the columns of an influential jour
nal to crush a dangerous opponent, and, at the time he
penned the above letter, he well knew that Paul Mor
phy resented from the first such unfairness, and had
positively forbidden any of his games to be sent to him.
Mr. Staunton makes reference, in conclusion, to
" very ill advisers." I suppose I must take this mainly
to myself, more particularly as it is not the first time of
his using the expression during the discussion. With
out attempting to defend myself, I would say to Mr.
Staunton : " I can reconcile it with my sense of honor
and honesty, to impute to you a wilful suppression of
the paragraph so frequently referred to. Had you
given that paragraph, you would, perforce, have been
obliged to give your reasons for the assertion therein
contained. And I would remind you, sir, that, in all
this discussion, you have never touched the real point
at issue—never apologized for the misstatement of
which Mr. Morphy complains with so much cause.
Paul Morphy is acquainted with the reason for that mis
statement, but he has never evinced a desire to force
you to state it publicly. He can afford to be generous."
V
THE STAUNTON AFFAIE. 139
It may be cause of regret to some that the match
between these two athletce did not take place. Such a
contest would not have afforded any test of compari
son, inasmuch as Mr. Staunton is not now the player he
was eight or ten years ago. But an infallible test ex
ists by which to judge of their respective merits—viz.
their games. " By their fruits ye shall know them."
********
110BAL.
Mr. Staunton's weakness was want of sufficient
courage to say, " He is stronger than I." Lowenthal
said it before his match with Morphy was finished;
Mr. Boden openly avowed his inferiority, as also Mr.
Bird, and many other eminent players. And Saint
Amant, in Paris, led the young hero up the steps of the
throne, and seated him beside Labourdonnais, proclaim
ing, " Voi^i notre maitre a nous tous." Had Mr. Staun
ton so done, he would merely have anticipated the ver
dict of posterity, and honored himself in the eyes of his
countrymen and the world.
*
OHAPTEK VII.
MOBPHT IN FEANCE.
On the last day of last August, I awakened Paul Mor
phy at an early hour. The Folkestone train left Lon
don Bridge at 9 55 a. m., and there was some twenty
minutes of hard driving to get to the railway station ;
but Morphy came down to breakfast with admirable
sang froid, took his own time at the meal, laughed at
my feats of being too late, and got into a cab at least
ten minutes later than we ought to have done. We
arrived at the depot in time to see the doors shut in our
faces. Now this was not agreeable, inasmuch as there
was no other train for Paris, by that line, during the
day. I therefore proposed .to Morphy that we should
stroll about until half-past one o'clock in the afternoon,
and then take the route through Dover and Calais, to
which he assented.
The trip across the Straits of Dover is neither long
nor pleasant, and Mr. Morphy was dreadfully sea-sick ;
but his mind was preoccupied with his forthcoming
campaigns in la Belle France, and he observed to me,
MORPHY IN FRANCE. 141
" Well, now I am going to meet Harrwitz ! I shall
beat him in the same proportion as I beat Lowenthal,
although he is a better match-player than Lowenthal.
But I shall play better with Harrwitz." Some of my
readers may object to such an observation ; but those
who know Morphy, know that he speaks from thorough
acquaintance with his opponents' capabilities, and con
viction of his own superiority—not from any improper
feeling of pride.
People suffering from sea-sickness generally recog
nize the truth of the maxim, " It is better to give than
to receive : " you have much difficulty in getting them
to take any thing, even fat pork ; but if you watch your
opportunity, when the will is stronger than the deed,
and induce them to worry down a modicum of cham
pagne well up, you infuse new life into them. So I re
quested the steward to make us acquainted with his
Sillery Mousseux, and Morphy and I toasted each other
on the deck of the steamboat. On my asking him im
mediately afterwards how he felt, he allowed that he
was better ; adding, however, that he believed it was
nothing but imagination which worked the cure.
It was but a short run to the pier of Calais, and the
sea-sickness was forgotten when our feet again touched
terraflrma. On landing, we got into a slight difficulty.
Morphy speaks the French language with the purest
Gallic accent, and the officials would not at first consent
to his travelling with a United States passport. This
our hero soon cleared up by reading the gens (Parfnes
142 PAUL MOEPHY.
a precis of the settlement, manners, customs, &c, of the
State of Louisiana, and his own antecedents ; where
upon that official restored him his papier regU, but con
fiscated a quantity of underlinen. They told us that
was Customary.
Eight o'clock in the evening ; and if we took the
train forthwith, we should arrive in Paris next morning
at six. Morphy proposed that we should sleep there that
night, and take an early train the following day, which
course would enable us to see the town of Calais. So
we repaired to the Hotel Dessin, attended to our inner
and outer man, and then prepared for a stroll. As the
result of our observations, we agreed Calais must have
been a magnificent town before the discovery of the
principles of architecture. After diligent inquiry, we
could not learn that any one knew when the last house
was built, and Morphy gave it as his opinion that, were
William the Conqueror to revisit Calais, he would find
it unchanged, except in being dirtier. 'When I re
minded him that the town possessed peculiar interest
for me as an Englishman, he coolly set me down, by
observing that he had a very poor opinion of my an
cestors for wishing to keep such a place.
The next morning we got into the train at a quar
ter to eight o'clock, and commenced the long, dreary
ride of ten mortal hours to Paris. But there was no
way out of the difficulty, and, what with yawning and
dozing between the stations, and grumbling at the te
dious regulation speed of the French railways, we ulti
MOEPHY IN FRANCE. 143
mately arrived at the capital. Now every traveller,
on getting to this point, thinks he is bound to paint the
various emotions arising in his breast on entering the
city of the Seine. My own sensations were of strong
Anglican bias. I wanted to dine. Morphy is never
betrayed into rhapsody, and what he felt he didn't
speak.
Having again submitted our baggage to the inspec
tion of numerous officials, we thanked our stars for
seeing the last of the Chemin de Fer du Nbrd,—drove
off to Meurice's, where they gave us rooms about the
fifteenth story,—started for the Restaurant des Trois
Frbres Provengaux, and got a capital dinner, and then
addressed ourselves to the duties of flaneurs. I knew
the French capital like a gamin de Paris ; and, with
out saying a word to Morphy of my intention, I led
him quietly down the Palais Royal, past the Theatre
Francais, and right into the Cafe de la Regence.
CHAPTEK VIII.
THE CAFE DE LA EEGENCE.
'Were I called upon to name the central spot in this
whirling sphere, the point round which all other points
revolve, I should say—The Cafe de la Regence.
Probably many of my readers will not think so, but
that does not alter the fact. I name that cafe, not as a
chess player, but from more general reasons. Take a
bowl of water or any other liquid—-punch will do—and,
prior to drinking, experiment upon it. Turn it round
and round until the liquid revolves quickly, and mark :
there is one spot in the centre, a bubble, or mass of
foam, which appears stationary, and all the other bub
bles are circling and converging spirally towards it.
So with my cafe.
In Paris, every other house is a cafe. The inhabit
ants are divided into two classes :—waiters at the cafe,
and—frequenters of the cafe. Paris never existed
until coffee was introduced. Paris is merely a big
cafe, and is a product of the Mocha berry.
Every cafe has its speciality. At Paul Niquet's,
THE CAPE DE LA REGEXCE. 145
for instance, the chiffoniers congregate, and at Torto-
ni's, speculators and politicians. Not one of these es
tablishments, throughout the city, but has its mark, by
which to distinguish it from its fellows, in the same
way as an ugly woman consoles herself with the belief
that she has one quality at least which will captivate
admirers. But the Cafe de la Regence stands out pe
culiar from the rest ; it is what they are, and more too.
It is an epitome of all.
Now the reader must not suppose I am going to
enter on a lengthy history of this far-famed trysting
spot of men of all countries, more particularly as Mr.
George Walker anticipated me many years ago.
Everybody knows that the Cafe de la Regence and
the Cafe Procope are the two oldest in Paris ; that the
former is so named after the famous Regent Duke of
Orleans ; that Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Duke
of Richelieu, Marshall Saxe, Franklin, Robespierre,
Napoleon, etc., etc., etc., made it their place of fre
quent resort for the purpose of playing at chess. I am
about to give a daguerreotype of the Regence as Mor-
phy and I found it, and as any one will find it at the
present day.
The first thing we caught sight of, on entering, was
a dense cloud of tobacco smoke, the product of tabac
de Caporal and cigars de la Regie. The second object
was a massive individual, with Titanic shoulders, whom
we afterwards learned was Monsieur Morel, or, as they
call him there, " Le pere Morel," and " The Rhinoce
8
146 PAUL MOEPHT.
ros." Having turned the flank of this gentleman, and
our eyes becoming used to the peculiar atmosphere, we
observed that tables were placed as close to each other
as would admit of one's passing between them, and
that chess was being played on some, draughts, cards,
and dominoes on others. In a second room, two bil
liard-tables were, in full action, surrounded by still
other chess and card parties, whilst the unceasing bub-
bub arising from the throng seemed to render mental
abstraction an impossibility. At a table in the first
room, a small crowd was watching the contest between
two amateurs of "ye noble game of chesse playe,"
and Morphy's attention was immediately arrested. I
stepped up to the dame, du comptoir and made in
quiries as to who was then in the room, and learned
from her that one of the two players Morphy was
watching was Monsieur Journoud, "un de nos plus
forts," the lady added, as though aware I was a stran
ger. She informed me that Mr. Harrwitz was then at
Valenciennes, but intended to return to Paris at the
end of the week, in order to meet Mr. Morphy. On
my not expressing any surprise at the mention of the
latter's name, she volunteered the information that Mr.
Morphy was a celebrated American player, who had
beaten everybody he had played with, and that they
expected him yesterday. The lady was pleasingly
voluble, and I encouraged her ; this induced her to add
that Monsieur Arnoux de Riviere had just received a
letter from a friend in London, apprising him that our
THE CAFE DE LA BEGENCE. 147
hero had left the English capital, and was en route for
Paris.
Having learned as much as the dame du comptoir
-was able to communicate, I rejoined Morphy, and we
took a second look round the room. Sounds of all Eu
ropean languages saluted our ears, and types of differ
ent races our eyes. In one corner, a knot of Italians
talked, amicably no doubt, in their rapid, quarrelsome
manner. At one of the billiard tables, a party of Rus
sians were having it their own way, without fear of
listeners; Americans and English, Germans, Danes,
Swedes, Greeks, Spaniards, etc., jabbered together re
gardless of bystanders, making the cafe a very Babel.
Scores of journals were lying here and there—the
leading newspapers, in fact, throughout Europe—so
that every visitor, no matter what his nationality, could
obtain news of home.
The crowd seemed, as it always does, to represent
every rank of society. There were military men, from
colonels to privates ; one or two priests, who seemed
somewhat out of their element; well-dressed, aristo
cratic-looking individuals, who kept together in knots
in different corners ; and the invariable pittier de cafi,
who passes half his existence in such establishments,
and the other half in bed. The Cafe de la Regence
opens at eight o'clock in the morning, but little or
nothing is done until noon, barring the daily visit of
some three or four patrons who drink their coffee in
silence, and are not seen again until early next day.
148 PAUL MOEPHT.
But at noon men begin to drop in quickly, and, by
two o'clock, the room is as full as it can conveniently
hold, and so continues until midnight.
The Cafe de la Regence has only existed on its
present site for a few years ; in fact, since Louis Na
poleon has made the many magnificent alterations in
the French capital. Previously, it was next door, in a
locale not half so convenient as the present one. The
cafe is separated into two rooms on the Rue St.
Honor6 ; in the larger one, which we have already de
scribed, smoking is permitted to a frightful extent ; in
the other, it is strictly forbidden. The latter chamber
is well fitted up, and the ceiling, which is massive, con
tains four shields in the cornices, bearing the names of
Philidor, Deschappelles, and Labourdonnais. The
fourth bears the date of the cafe's foundation, and the
proprietor has stated his intention of placing therein
the name Moephy. Perhaps it is already done.
At the time of our arrival in Paris, the Cercle des
Echecs, or in other words, the Chess Club, met in
rooms over the cafe. The association had three rooms
set apart for chess, and one for billiards, and Saint
Amant, Devinck, Guibert, Preti, Doazan, Delannoy,
Seguin and Lecrivain were amongst the members.
But the great room down stairs prevented their receiv
ing any accession of numbers, and the rent being very
high, and funds very low, they gave up their quarters
at the end of last year, and are now to be found in the
cafe below.
THE CAFE DE LA REGENCE. 149
Morphy would not announce his arrival on his first
•visit, preferring to postpone it until the following day.
"When it was known that the so much looked-for player
was in Paris, the excitement was great; Frenchmen
live for excitement. M. de Riviere had not been
there lately, but we found Messrs. Lecrivain, Journoud,
Guibert, and numbers of knight and rook-players. The
first-named gentleman, by general request, ofFered him
self as the initiatory sacrifice, accepting the odds of
pawn and two moves, and managed to score some two
games to Morphy's six or seven. Then M. de Riviere
arrived, and getting the move, played the Ruy Lopez,
which eventuated in "a draw;" and he was subse
quently followed by M. Journoud, who, though one of
the best French players, failed to score a victory.
Morphy had made his mark, and everybody looked for
ward to the arrival of Herr Harrwitz, when they hoped
to see fun.
CHAPTER IX.
THE MATCH BETWEEN MOEPHT AND HAEEWITZ.
Satubday came, and so did Harrwitz. We found him
a little man, of about forty, with finely-developed head,
and large, piercing black eyes. In conversation, he is
exceedingly witty and " cool," and many are the good
things told of him. Some of my readers will remember
the rebuke he gave Mr. Staunton, when playing his
celebrated match with that gentleman. Harrwitz had
made a move which caused much reflection to his op
ponent, who rolled about on his chair and stroked his
forehead energetically, as only Mr. Staunton can do,
giving spectators the impression that his brain was in
an agony of labor. He examined the position, and re
examined it ; but, the more he looked, the less he liked
it. Savage at being balked, he exclaimed—"Well,
I've lost a move?' and thereupon played a piece.
Harrwitz coolly rises from his seat, rings the bell fran
tically, and gives the following order : " Waiter, look
about for a move ; Mr. Staunton has lost one."
There is probably no man living who plays so much
u Hie i_
*r.V<TE» BRANCH
;L-Eas\ 7 Ct'i
THE MATCH BETWEEN MOEPHY ASD HAEEWITZ. 151
chess as Herr Harrwitz. All great chess players I
know of, are great lie-a'beds, and he is no exception to
the rule. His night-gear and he part company many
hours after sunrise, and he starts forthwith for the Ca£6
de la Regence, where he plays, with only a slight inter
mission for dinner, until he goes home to bed again.
His opponents are generally visitors to the cafe, not the
habitues ; for these last have taken great dislike to his
very offensive manner, and will not contend with him.
They say, too, that he evinces an improper desire to
win, and, in consequence, will only give the odds of
pawn and move, when he could well afford pawn and
two, and the knight instead of the rook. In my
character of historian, I am bound to state that the
feeling was very intense at the Regence in favor of
Morphy, and many the prayers (French prayers) that
Harrwitz might succumb to him.
The two celebrities shook hands together, and Mor
phy immediately asked if he would consent to play a
match. The fact is, the young Paul meant mischief.
Everybody in England was loud in praise of Harrwitz's
skill, and prophesied a tough encounter. There was
reason in this; for the Prussian player has given him
self up, body and soul, to the game. Staunton's liter
ary avocations now permit him but an hour or two
weekly for chess, although formerly he lived in the
London Divan, as Harrwitz in the Regence, and was so
rabid about Caiissa, that he actually wore shirts with
kings, rooks, pawns, etc., printed over the bosoms and
152 PAUX MOEPHY.
tails. Saint Amant was never a professional chess
player, merely regarding it as a pastime. Lowenthal's
duties as chess editor and analyst, prevent his giving
much time to play, and, although he devotes a certain
period weekly to the contests at the London, St.
George's, and St. James's Clubs, he seldom contends
for any stake. Anderssen is absorbed in mathematics
at the Breslau Gymnasium ; Heyderbrandt's diplomatic
career engages nearly his entire attention ; Buckle has
forgotten his former love ; Boden, Bird, Medley, Walk
er, Mongredieu, Slous, Kipping, De Riviere, Laroche,
are engaged in mercantile pursuits ; Lowe is getting
rich with his hotel ; Horwitz is painting ; Kling is a pro
fessor of music ; and so on with nearly all European
players. Harrwitz is the only man I know of who seems
to live for chess, and we can, therefore, easily under
stand why Morphy was so desirous of playing him.
To our hero's question, Harrwitz gave a reply so
non-committal, that Morphy said, aside, to me, "He
won't play a match." A crowd had collected around
us, and the Prussian, thinking it an admirable opportu
nity for display, asked Morphy whether he had any ob
jection to an off-hand game. Of course he had not.
Harrwitz had the move, and played an Algaier Gambit,
which, after a hard fight, he won. Morphy was some
what excited, made a mistake in the opening, by which
he lost three pawns for nothing at all, and yet fought
the battle with such determination, that the number of
moves was not far short of a hundred. His antagonist
THE MATCH BETWEEN MOEPHY AND HARRWITZ. 153
was delighted with his -victory, thought he was sure of
Morphy, and engaged to settle the preliminaries of a
match on the following day.
The next morning Harrwitz arrived at his usual
hour—noon. He informed Morphy that his friends
were desirous of backing him, but that the stakes were
not made up yet. Morphy replied that that would bo
no objection, as he would accept any bets that might
be offered during the match, and they could therefore
begin at once. But another difficulty stood in the
way. Morphy, in pursuance of a settled plan, had
chosen his seconds from the'enemy's camp, and had re
quested De Riviere and Journoud to act as his friends
in this contest. Harrwitz chose to regard these gentle
men with feelings of enmity, and stated that, " if there
were any seconds, there would be no match." Morphy
was thus placed in a very equivocal position. Without
being aware of any dispute existing between his future
antagonist and the gentlemen in question, he had chosen
them as his representatives: how could he now ask
them to back out, because Mr. Harrwitz demanded it ?
However, on my representing the case to them, Messrs.
De Riviere and Journoud resigned their office in the
most kindly and willing manner, so desirous were they
of seeing the match come off.
Shortly afterwards Monsieur Lequesne arrived.
This gentleman, the pupil and worthy successor of Pra-
dier, is now the first of living French sculptors, and the
peer of Marochetti, Crawford, and Gibson. He is also
8*
154 PAUL MOEPHY.
a strong chess player, and the most active man in
France for arranging matches, tournaments, &c. He
immediately adjourned with Harrwitz, Morphy, and
myself to a private room, to settle preliminaries, and, if
I recollect rightly, Dr. Grosboulogne was of the party.
Harrwitz expressed his dislike to any thing like cere
mony, and objected to their being seconds or umpires
in the affair ; sorry were Morphy, Lequesne, and H.'s
own backers, afterwards, that he carried the day on
that point. The only arrangements made were, that
Morphy was to accept all bets offered, that the winner
of the first seven games should be esteemed the victor,
and that the play should take place on four days in the
week ; and, finally, at Harrwitz's express stipulation,
the match was to be played in the public cafe.
All this being agreed upon, the two champions
came forth, and went at it. On drawing for the move,
Harrwitz was again successful, and played, as he always
does in matches, pawn to queen's fourth. This open
ing, and Philidor in defence, as second player, you
could no more drive him away from, than you could
induce Great Britain to give up Gibraltar. Pawn to
queen's fourth served Harrwitz's turn once, and so did
Philidor in defence, but only once, and I do not think
it would then, if Morphy had been in good condition.
The night before the commencement of the match,
Morphy had been sight-seeing until a very late hour ;
and we only got into bed between two and three
o'clock in the morning. He laughed at me for remind
THE MATCH BETWEEN MOBPHY AUD HARRWITZ. 155
ing him of. his approaching contest, and the necessity
for mens sana in corpore sano, which I said would be
seriously interfered with by his not taking sufficient
rest. The next day his appearance verified my prog
nostics, and he failed to show that impassibility which
ordinarily characterizes him. He says, however, that
Harrwitz beat him because he (H.) played the best
moves ; and he would not admit to me that want of
rest at all interfered with his own play.
Throughout the first game, Harrwitz displayed the
most rollicking contempt for his antagonist, and, at the
conclusion, when Morphy resigned, he rose from his
seat, stretched across the table, and taking the latter
by the hand, he felt his pulse and declared to the
crowd—" Well, it is astonishing ! His pulse does -not
beat any faster than if he had won the game." Every
body was disgusted at such a contemptuous proceeding,
but Morphy took it all as quietly as though it were a
part of the match.
Our hero passed that evening with some friends.
Towards eleven o'clock I said to him, " Now, Morphy,
you really must not have a second edition of last night ;
let us get home in good time ; but he replied, " Oh,
dont be frightened, I've got the move to-morrow;"
and, in spite of all I could say or do, we did not get to
bed until nearly four o'clock. Well, what was the con
sequence ? After getting a magnificent position in^he
second game of the match, bodily fatigue came upon
him, and Harrwitz was again victor, The Prussian
156 PAUL MOEPHY.
came out in greater glory than ever, rolling about in
his seat, talking loudly to persons about the board, and
smiling sardonically at his opponent, as much as to say,
" Oh, it takes very little trouble to beat this fellow."
Many leading players in the cafe, especially De Riviere
and Journoud, were very savage at such conduct, but
I told them—" Mark my words, Mr. Harrwitz will be
quiet as a lamb before the end of next week."
The result of the play with Harrwitz had shaken
the faith of the French players in Morphy. But as we
left the cafe, he said laughingly to me, "How aston
ished all these men will be if Harrwitz does not get
another game." And he did not. At dinner, I reason
ed the matter with him, saying that the first requisite
for any man engaged in a chess match, was rest for the
brain ; and that he ought, by this time, to be convinced
of the absolute necessity of keeping early hours. And
I wound up by exacting a promise from him that he
would never be out of bed after midnight, during the
match.
In the evening we went to the Opera Comique,
and witnessed a very unsatisfactory performance of
" La Part du Diable." Morphy has a great love for
music, and his memory for any air he has once heard
is astonishing. Mrs. Morphy is renowned in the salons
of New Orleans as a brilliant pianist and musician, and
her son, without ever having studied music, has a
similar aptitude for it, and it is believed that he would
have become as famous therein as in chess, had he given
THE MATCH BETWEEN MOETHY AND HABBWITZ. 157
his attention to it. " La Part du Diable " was a new
opera, and Morphy, after leaving the theatre, hummed
over many of the airs to me, which he had just heard
for the first time, with astonishing precision.
The next day we took a long drive among the
" Hons," and, in the evening, dined at the residence of
that chess veteran and friend of Deschappelles and La-
bourdonnais, Monsieur Doazan. Harrwitz was of the
company, and, for the nonce, acted Jupiter Trium-
phans in superb style. I felt indignant at such con
duct towards a man so inoffensive and modest as Mr.
Morphy, and I observed : " I am sorry, Mr. Harrwitz, you
have not yet found Mr. Morphy in good fighting trim.
The fact is, he has been preparing to meet you by not
going to bed until common men are about to rise, but
he has promised to retire early in future, and you will
then find in him a very different antagonist." It was
merely a hint, but the gentle Harrwitz did not like it.
The following morning, Morphy said to me at break
fast, "If I beat Harrwitz to-day, you will say it is be
cause I went to bed at eleven o'clock ; " to which I
replied, " Perhaps ; but I do say that you lost the first
two games because you went to bed at four."
The third and fourth games Morphy scored in beau
tiful style. The latter, Staunton declared, "would
have excited the admiration of Labourdonnais," and
the effect upon Harrwitz was interesting. During its
progress, his conduct was quite gentlemanly, with the
exception of a violent shaking consequent upon nervous
158 PAUL MOBPHY.
excitement. There was cause for this. On the other
side of the board sat Morphy, looking, in his peculiar
way, like a block of impassible, living marble, the very
embodiment of penetration and decision. No hesitancy
or excitement there, but all cool, calm action, knowing
where it must end ; and, as he rose from his seat, every
body congratulated him on the score now standing two
to two, and assured him they were confident what
would be the result. We laughed heartily at these
men who, but a few days previous, had looked woe
fully chopfallen, fearing that Harrwitz was too strong
for Morphy.
The fifth game was played on the following Monday,
and the Prussian lost it, although he had the move.
Harrwitz felt uncomfortable, plainly feeling that his
present antagonist was, as he expressed himself to a
friend, " very much stronger than any he had ever
met." We now had several days' intermission from
play, the plea being " ill health ; " and, finally, Morphy
received a letter from his opponent, asking for a respite
of a week or ten days, to which a reply was returned
granting the request, on condition that, when the
match was resumed, a game should be played daily,
Sundays alone excepted. At the termination of ten
days, Harrwitz lost the sixth game, so that the score
now stood—Morphy, four ; Harrwitz, two ; drawn, none.
And the latter, in spite of the agreement, was again
absent from the battle-field for some days.
CHAPTER X.
moepht's greatest blindfold feat.
Awaiting the return of his antagonist, Paul Morphy
announced his intention ofplaying eight blindfold games,
simultaneously, in the public cafe. It is needless to as
sure my readers that the mere announcement produced
the greatest excitement ; the newspapers heralded the
fact throughout the city, and crowds of strangers came
pouring into the Regence, and asking particulars of
the habitues in relation to the approaching performance.
Harrwitz had already asked Morphy to join him in a
public display of the same description, to which the
admission was to be five francs, and Morphy felt em
barrassed in answering him ; but the good offices of
Mr. Lequesne arranged the difficulty, without hurting
any one's amour propre, and the" proposed exhibition
was set on one side. Morphy has an intense dislike to
money-fingering in connection with chess ; and he made
it a sine qua non that, if he played blindfold at all, the
Caft de la Higence should be open to any one who
chose to walk in. The proprietor, Monsieur Delaunay,
160 PAUL MORPHY.
was only too glad to accede to this ; not merely foresee
ing that the exhibition would attract crowds to his es
tablishment, and be an admirable advertisement, but
also from a friendly feeling for our hero. The frequent
ers of the place used to say that Delaunay would give
Morphy half his cafe, if he asked him for it.
The blindfold struggle was publicly announced to
commence at noon ; but, at an early hour, the crowd
was already considerable. The billiard-tables in the
further room were sacrificed to the exigencies of the
occasion ; I requested the waiters to put a thick cord
round them, so as to rail off a space for Morphy, and a
large easy-chair, placed in the enceinte, made the whole
arrangements as comfortable for him as could be wished.
He, however, was not up to the mark, as regards bodily
health. Morphy is a water-drinker, and Paris water
would cure any Maine Liquor Law bigot of Teetotalism
in a week. Since the outset of the match with Harr-
witz, he had been ailing, but he preferred playing to
making excuses. His own expression was, " Je ne suis
pas homme aux excuses " —(I am no man to make ex
cuses,) and he was always ready for Harrwitz, although
obliged to ride to the cafe. Nothing proves so satis
factorily to me Morphy's wondrous powers in chess, as
his contests in France, laboring, as he constantly did,
under positive bodily suffering. A man's brain will
often be more than ordinarily active and clear when the
body is weak from late illness ; but it is not so when
there is pain existing. At breakfast, on the morning
MOEPHT'S geeatest blindfold feat. 161
fixed for this blindfold exhibition, he said to me, "I
don't know how I shall get through my work to-day.
I am afraid I shall be obliged to leave the room, and
some evil-minded persons may think I am examining
positions outside." Yet, in spite of this, he sits down,
and, during ten long hours, creates combinations which
have never been surpassed on the chess-board, although
his opponents were men of recognized strength, and, as
a collective body, Pawn and Two Moves stronger than
the Birmingham eight.
The boards for Morphy's antagonists were arranged
in the principal room of the cafe, numbered as fol
lows :—
No. 1. Baucher, 5. Lequesne,
Nearly all these gentlemen are well known in con
temporaneous chess, and formed such a phalanx that
many persons asked whether Morphy knew whom he
was going to play against. Monsieur Arnoux de Rivi
ere called the moves for the first four, and Monsieur
Journoud for the others ; and, all being prepared, Mor
phy began as usual with " Pawn to King's Fourth on
all the boards."
Things went on swimmingly and amusingly. It
was as good as a volume of Punch or the Charivari to
hear the remarks made by the excited spectators ; more
especially when the "openings" were past, and the
2. Bierwirth,
3. Bornemann,
4. Guibert,
6 Potier,
7. Preti,
8. Seguin.
102 PAUL MOEPHT.
science of the combatants came out, in the middle of
the game. There was the huge " Pere Morel," hands in
his pockets, blowing clouds from an immense pipe like
smoke from Vesuvius, threading his way between the
boards and actually getting fierce when anybody asked
him what he thought of it. Seeing him seated at the
end ofthe room towards evening, and looking as though
dumbfoundered at the performance, I said to him,—
" Well, Mr. Morel, do you believe now that Morphy
can play against eight such antagonists ? " He looked
at me in an imploring manner and replied,—" Oh, don't
talk to me ; Mr. Morphy makes my head ache." It is
related of Pitt that, making a speech in Parliament on
a certain occasion, whilst under the influence of sundry
bottles of Port, the doorkeeper of the House of Com
mons declared that the son of the great Chatham made
his head ache, so violent was his language, and so loud
his tone. This coming to Pitt's ears, he said—" Noth
ing could be better ; I drink the wine, and the door
keeper gets the headache." Monsieur Potier rises
from his table to show on another board how Morphy
had actually seen seven moves in advance ; and Signor
Preti gets quite nervous and agitated as our hero puts
shot after shot into his bull's-eye ; and I had much dif
ficulty in assuring him that no absolute necessity exist
ed for his playing on, until Morphy mated him ; but
that when he found his game was irretrievably lost, he
would be justified in resigning. Monsieur Baucher was
the first to give in, although one of the very strongest
MOEPHY'S GREATEST BLINDFOLD FEAT. 163
of the contestants ; Morphy's combinations against this
gentleman were so astonishing, and the finale so bril
liant, that Mr. Walker declared in BeWs Life—" This
game is worthy of being inscribed in letters of gold, on
the walls of the London Club." Bornemann and Preti
soon followed, and then Potier and Bierwirth ; Messrs.
Lequesne and Guibert effecting drawn battles; Mon
sieur Seguin alone was left. It was but natural that he
should be the last, as he was the strongest of the eight
combatants, and, truth to tell, he did not believe it
possible for any one to beat him without seeing tho
board ; but this Morphy finally effected in some beau
tiful pawn play, which would have tickled Philidor
himself.
Forthwith commenced such a scene as I scarcely
hope again to witness. Morphy stepped from the arm
chair in which he had been almost immovable for ten
consecutive hours, without having tasted a morsel of
any thing, even water, during the whole of the period ;
yet as fresh, apparently, as when he sat down. The
English and Americans, of whom there were scores
present, set up stentorian Anglo-Saxon cheers, and the
French joined in as the whole crowd made a simulta
neous rush at our hero. The waiters of the Cafe had
formed a conspiracy to carry Morphy in triumph on
their shoulders, but the multitude was so compact, they
could not get near him, and finally, had to abandon the
attempt. Great bearded fellows grasped his hands, and
almost shook his arms out of the sockets, and it was
164 PAUL MOEPHT.
nearly half an hour before we could get out of the Cafe.
A well-known citizen of New York, Thomas Bryan,
Esq., got on one side of him and M. de Riviere on the
other, and " Le Pere Morel,"—body and soul for our
hero—fought a passage through the crowd by main
strength, and we finally got into the street. There the
scene was repeated ; the multitude was greater out of
doors than in the cafe, and the shouting, if possible,
more deafening. Morphy, Messrs. Bryan and De Ri
viere and myself, made for the Palais Royal, but the
crowd still followed us, and when we got to the guard
house of the Imperial Guard, sergeants de ville and
soldiers came running out to see whether a new revo
lution was on the tapis. We rushed into the Restau
rant Foy, up stairs, and into a private room ; whilst, as
we subsequently learned, the landlord made anxious
inquiries as to the cause of all this excitement. Having
done our duty to a capital supper, we got off by a back
street, and thus avoided the crowd, who, we were in
formed, awaited our reappearanca in the quadrangle of
the Palais Royal.
Next morning, Morphy actually awakened me at
seven o'clock, and told me, if I would get up, he would
dictate to me the moves of yesterday's games. I never
saw him in better spirits, or less fatigued, than on that
occasion, as he showed me, for two long hours, the hun
dreds of variations depending on the play of the pre
vious day, with such rapidity that I found it hard work
to follow the thread of his combinations.
moepht's greatest blindfold feat. 165
Harrwitz was in the cafe for about an hour during
blindfold play, and he actually had the assurance to say
to me, " You can tell Mr. Morphy, that I will continue
the match to-morrow." I replied : " I feel satisfied that
Mr. Morphy will be willing to do so, but I shall most
certainly object, and all that lies in my power will be
done to prevent his seeing a chess-board until he has
had at least twenty-four hours' rest." And I added :
" You had better not let it be known that you have
made the proposition, or you will be badly received in
the cafe, depend upon it."
The evening after his blindfold feat, Morphy very
inconsiderately took a nap in his sitting-room, with the
window open. On my arrival I awoke him, and he
complained of feeling cold. Next morning he was
feverish, and in any thing but a fit state to meet Harr
witz. Nevertheless I could not induce him to keep his
room ; he said to me : " I would sooner lose the game,
than that anybody should think I had exhausted my
self by a tour deforce, as some will do if I am absent at
the proper hour." And he rode to the Regence in a
state only fit for a hot bath and sweating powder.
Well might Saint Amant call him the " chivalrous Bay
ard of Chess."
CHAPTEE XI.
CONTINUATION OF THE MATCH WITH HAEEWITZ.
Moephy was at the Regence to the minute, but Harr-
witz was not forthcoming. At last we received a mes
sage from him that he objected to play any longer in
the public cafe, and requested Morphy to come up
stairs into the rooms of the Chess Club. It would be
difficult to describe the excitement caused by this an
nouncement. Harrwitz's backers, of whom there were
eight or ten, were very angry ; more especially as it
was at his own particular desire that the match was
played in the cafe. The pretext was, that the warm at
mosphere and noise of the crowd interfered with his
game; the real fact, because everybody, even the
aforementioned backers, were favorable to Morphy.
What was to be done ? Our hero, with his clear rea
soning, soon found the correct reply, and he sent back
word that " The Chess Club being a private association,
it would be an impertinence on his part to use their
apartments without their permission." Harrwitz would
not show himself, and the entire affair was near being
CONTINUATION OF THE MATCH WITH . HAEEWITZ. 167
put a stop to, when certain members of the Cercle kind
ly opened the doors of their Club, and Morphy went
up stairs.
The two principals being again face to face, Harr-
witz commenced with his " same old two-and-sixpence "
pawn to queen's fourth, and before he had got past
the twentieth move, Morphy had the attack, position,
and every thing. But, in process of administering the
coup de grace, Morphy's feverish state told upon him,
and he committed an oversight which lost him a rook,
when within a move or two of winning. It was so
stupid a mistake, that he immediately burst out laugh
ing at himself. Harrwitz picked off the unfortunate
rook with the utmost nonchalance, as though it were
the result of his own combinations, and actually told
me afterwards, " Oh, the game was a drawn one
throughout." Morphy got a perpetual check upon
him, and it was the only " draw " in the contest.
What does the American Chess Monthly mean by
calling this palpable oversight " an imperfect com
bination ? "
Again we had to wait some time for Mr. Harrwitz.
It must not be supposed that this gentleman used his
frequent " leaves of absence " for the purpose of recruit
ing that health which he represented as so bad. No,
he came daily to the Rkgence at the usual hour, and
played with anybody, but Morphy, until past midnight.
He sat down now, in front of his adversary, for the
eighth and last time, apparently in his ordinary health,
168 PAUL MOEPHY.
and fought as tough a battle as any in the contest.
The game lasted to the fifty-ninth move, and then
Harrwitz resigned.
The score nowstood, Morphy 5 ; Harrwitz 2 ; drawn
1. Next day Morphy received a verbal message that
" Mr. Harrwitz resigns the match, on account of ill
health." There was something like a row at the Cafe,
de la Regence when this was known, for the Prussian
amateur had not even deigned to consult his backers,
or even to inform them of his intention. Mr. Lequesne,
his stake-holder, was requested by him to hand over
the collected amount, two hundred and ninety francs,
to our hero, and that gentleman forthwith called on
Morphy at his hotel. Of course we got the fullest par
ticulars from Mr. Lequesne. He informed us that
Harrwitz's backers were furious, and that they, like
himself, were confident that their principal was merely
indisposed in the morale, not at all physically. Morphy
replied that it never was his desire to play for stakes
under any circumstances ; and, taking into considera
tion the peculiar facts of the case, he would certainly
decline receiving the money.
Some time afterwards, Mr. Lequesne returned, and
stated that not merely were the different subscribers
to the stakes desirous that Paul Morphy should receive
what had been won by him, but that Mr. Harrwitz
would, for the sake of appeasing his backers, play out
the remainder of the match. Morphy immediately
returned answer, that "Mr. H. having resigned the
CONTINUATION OF THE MATCH WITH HARRWTTZ. 169
contest, there was an end of the matter, but that he
(Morphy) was ready to commence a second match im
mediately." Harrwite had had enough of beating, and
he unhesitatingly declined this proposition.
But a difficulty arose in consequence of Morphy's
refusal to receive the stakes. Letters poured in from
all quarters, complaining that bets on the result of the
contest were influenced by the decision, and Morphy
finally took the two hundred and ninety francs from
Mr. Lequesne. He then caused it to be announced
publicly, that the money was deposited with the pro
prietor of the Cafe de la Regence, that any of the sub
scribers to the amount were at perfect liberty to with
draw their subscriptions, and that the remainder should
go towards defraying Herr Anderssen's expenses to
Paris. And so the money was eventually used.
Will any of my readers think it possible that Mr.
Harrwitz could, after all this, publish that " he had not
lost the match, but that Mr. Morphy had consented to
its being annulled ? "
9
CHAPTER XII.
MORPHY IN SOCIETY.
All the Paris newspapers soon took to writing about
our hero, from the Moniteur to the Charivari. The
latter, the oldest and most famous of all comic papers,
gave cut after cut and article after article upon him ; in
fact, Morphy was its standing joke for a long period.
One day there was a picture representing " Britannia,
astonished at the checks she was receiving in India, re
questing the young American to get her out of the
difficulty." Another represented an individual who
declined entering the Cafi de la Migence in company
with his wife, " because there was inside a certain Mr.
Morphy who would capture his queen from him."
After the blindfold exhibition, the famous Taxile De-
lord wrote as follows :
" Well, let us have a game of chess. Shall I give
you the rook ? Sit down here, and I will place myself
in this arm-chair."
" Oh, no ! Now-a-days, no man who respects him
self, thinks of playing with the board in front of him."
MOEPHY IN SOCIETY. 171
Upon this imaginary conversation, Delord lets loose
a volley of fun, ending in this manner :
" I can understand Ecarte, I can appreciate Picquet,
I can even rise to the grandeur of Tric Trac, but don't
talk to me of Chess. That game will bring us back to
tragedy."
What with the illustrated papers giving Morphy's
portraits, no two of which were ever alike, and the in
numerable articles in the "dailies," he began to be
notorious. Saint Amant wrote that he supplied a want
which Paris had felt for a long time—the want of a
hero. Monsieur Lequesne requested him to sit for his
bust, and threw so much labor of love into the work,
that he produced a chef cfceuvre which all Paris went
to criticize and to praise. All these various occurrences
could not but cause excitement in the salons, and in
vitations began to pour in from the Faubourgs St.
Honore and St. Germain. The first came from the
Duchess de T . My readers must forgive me for
not mentioning names where a lady is concerned. The
Duchess stated that she had played at chess since a
child, and that she was desirous of becoming acquainted
with a gentleman whom fame heralded as so superior
to all amateurs ; but that she had no hope of proving
an antagonist worthy of him. Well, Morphy waited
on his fair challenger, and out of five games each won
two, and one was drawn. Then the Princess M
expressed a desire to play our hero, and other great
dames followed ; and knowing, as I do, the result, I
172 PAUL MOEPHT.
solemnly declare that, in spite of my confidence in
Morphy's powers of combination, I never •would bet a
cent upon him when his opponent is a lady.
I am not bound to silence when gentlemen are con
cerned, and I am glad to mention amongst chess ama
teurs, such names as the Duke of Brunswick and Counts
Casabianca, Isouard, and Bastorot. These gentlemen
are thorough veterans in the noble game, and chess
works and periodicals are no strangers to their con
tests. Count Casabianca was " at home '' every Friday
night, and, whilst some of the company were at whist,
ecarte, or other games de la sociiti, he would always
be in a corner with the Duke of Brunswick, Count
Isouard, Signor Preti, and other chess amateurs. Mor-
phy played against the Duke and the Counts in consul
tation, and, although he almost invariably won, it was
no easy matter. t
H. R. H. the Duke of Brunswick is a thorough
devotee to Ca'issa ; we never saw him but he was play
ing chess with some one or other. We were frequent
visitors to his box at the Italian Opera ; he had got a
chess-board even there, and played throughout the per
formance. On our first visit " Norma " was performed.
The Duke's box is right on the stage ; so close, indeed,
that you might kiss the prima donna without any
trouble. Morphy sat with his back to the stage, and
the Duke and Count Isouard facing him. Now it must
not be supposed that he was comfortable. Decidedly
otherwise ; for I have already stated that he is passion
MOEPHY IN SOCIETY.
ately fond of music, and, under the circumstances,
wished chess at Pluto. The game began and went on :
his antagonists had heard Norma so often that they
t could, probably, sing it through without prompting ;
they did not even listen to most of it, but went on dis
puting with each other as to their next move. Then
Madame Penco, who represented the Druidical priest
ess, kept looking towards the box, wondering what was
the cause of the excitement inside ; little dreaming that
Cai'ssa was the only Casta Diva the inmates cared
about. And those tremendous fellows, the " supes,"
who " did " the Druids, how they marched down the
stage, chaunting fire and bloodshed against the Roman
host, who, they appeared to think, were inside the
Duke's box.
Some of the pleasantest hours passed by Paul Mor
phy in the French capital were spent at the Baronne
de L.'s. This lady, who has long ranked as one of the
great beauties of Parisian society, is renowned as a
patroness of the arts. Her friendship for the lamented
Pradier has passed into history, and her salons are the
weekly resort of the most celebrated sculptors, painters,
and authors of France. And no wonder, for the Ba
ronne is gloriously merry and witty, a true child of the
sunny South. A Creole, from the French West Indies,
the immediately took a liking to Morphy, " Because,"
said she, " he is another lazy Creole like myself; " and
she invited all her acquaintances to come and see him.
She would get Morphy opposite her, and St. Amant or
114 PAUL ItOEPHY.
Lequesne by her side to stop her when she was about
making too serious a mistake, and would play game
after game, making us all laugh the whole time with
her charming anecdotes and jeux desprit. How she
would amuse us when she declared that parties and late
hours were killing her, and that they did kill her last
season, and yet she was always as fresh as a newly
plucked rose. When she found how fond Morphy was
of music, the principal singers from the opera would be
present. I remember one night she asked that finest
of living baritones, " the honey-voiced " Graziani, to
play our hero at the odds of the Queen. Signor Gra
ziani had caught the general enthusiasm, and was ap
plying his leisure moments to chess with the energy of
a Standigl, and had lately been taking lessons from
Preti. He at first objected to play, from modesty, but
the Baronne had determined he should, and she told
him that, if he would play a game, Morphy would sing
a duo with him afterwards. This was a sparkle of her
fun, of course ; but Graziani played, not one, but three
games, and he then said : " If anybody asks me if I un
derstand chess, I shall say, ' Oh, yes ; I play sometimes
with Mr. Morphy.' "
The United States minister, the Hon. Mr. Mason,
took a warm interest in his young countryman, occa
sionally sitting at the board when Morphy was at play.
The Judge is acquainted with the "Mystery of
Chesse," and asked many pointed questions after the
conclusion of the game, as to the why and the where
MOEPHT IN SOCIETY. 115
fore of different moves. It were scarcely right for the
United States government to appoint a minister to the
Court of the Tuileries who is ignorant of chess; it
would be an insult to the memory of Franklin.
CHAPTEE XIII.
MOEPHY AND THE FRENCH AMATEUES.
Mokphy's arrival in Paris, and his doings at the Cafe
de la Regence, soon began to make him much sought
after. The way in which some folks get lionized in
the French capital is remarkable, and Morphy had to
submit to it, not merely at the cafe, but even in his
hotel. We soon found that continued residence at the
Hotel Meurice would be inconvenient, for many
reasons ; and within a day or two of our arrival, had
located ourselves in the Hotel Sreteuil, at the corner
of the Hues de Mivoli and du Dauphine, where we had
a magnificent view of the palace and gardens of the
Tuileries, and were within a stone's throw of the best
quarters of Paris and the Rigence. What was our sur
prise to learn, subsequently, that Harrwitz was residing
next door to us ; and that Saint Amant had, formerly,
occupied the very apartments in which we had installed
ourselves. We had not been long in our new abode
before Morphy received a visit from the grandson of
Philidor. They had a lengthy colloquy together, and
MORPHY AND THE FRENCH AMATEURS. 177
of course Morphy asked his visitor if he played at chess.
He replied, that he once gave some attention to the
game, but found that he possessed little aptitude for it,
and therefore relinquished all further study ; not think
ing it right that any one bearing the name of Philidor
should be looked upon as a mazette.
Our hero's installation at the Cafe de la Regence
waked up all the slumbering embers of French chess,
and men who had not been seen for years past came
back to their early love. The well-known Polish ama
teur, Budzinsky, was amongst these, and Laroche, con
temporary of Labourdonnais and Deschappelles. Then
we found there such players as Mr. Eugene Rousseau,
of New Orleans, on a visit to his family in Paris, and
who had been so much " at home " in the cafe in other
years. How proud he was. of the fame and feats of his
young fellow-townsman amidst the Gallic paladins ! and
how desirous he was that Morphy should encounter
Monsieur Laroche, whose game he characterized as
sound to a terrible extent, characterizing that gentle
man as " un rude gaillard." It was only after Mr.
Rousseau's departure that Laroche and Morphy met,
when we found that the former was " sound," but the
latter " sounder." Mr. L. had not been seen at the
Regence for a long period ; some told us that he was
settled in Bayonne, others that he had given up chess
altogether : but the appearance in the chess heavens of
this Star of the West, brought him back to the old
battle-field, and no one could make even games with
9*
178 PAUL MOEPHY.
him but De Riviere and Harrwitz, the Prussian ama
teur merely winning a small majority.
Monsieur Journoud, one of the best known and
strongest of French players, and a member of the Paris
Committee of Co-operation on the International Tourna
ment of 1851, played upwards of a dozen games at
different times with Morphy ; but though he came very
near winning on one or two occasions, our hero always
wriggled out at last at the right end of the horn.
Journoud once described his opponent's game as " dis
gustingly correct ; " Boden speaks of Morphy's " dia
bolical steadiness," which means pretty near the same
thing.
De Riviere certainly made the best show against
Morphy of all the players in Paris, having scored one
game in good style, and having lost at least one which
he ought to have gained. He had got his opponent
into a position which might be termed " putting it to
him," and Morphy, like the wolf, was—
" Dying in silence, biting hard,"
when he made a move " to please the gallery." Now
Morphy never allows liberties to be taken with so
serious a matter as check mate; he goes straight to
the finish himself without fuss or nonsense, and expects
others to do the same ; he, therefore, worked clear out
of his difficulties and forced his opponent ultimately to
resign. De Riviere was mortified at the result, and
MOEPHY AND THE FBENCH AMATEtTBS. 170
states that he went home very angry with himself in
consequence.
This gentleman is incontestably the most rising of
the French players, and will make some amateurs
tremble for their chess reputation ere long. In 1851,
he did not know a move in the game, so that his prog
ress has been rapid ; and as he has not yet reached
his thirtieth year, it is only probable that he will be
come much stronger ; that is, if he will keep up his
practice, which is not certain, inasmuch as he has lately
become " mated " in a manner most agreeable to his
feelings, and we have heard of ladies who object to
their lords and masters making love to other nymphs—
even though that nymph be Ca'issa. Let us hope that,
in this instance, pater familias, whose " intentions are
strictly honorable," may be allowed an occasional
respite from the cradle and perambulator, and that
" curtain lectures " will not deter him from hot pursuit
after other men's queens.
It was soon found useless for any one to play Mor-
phy even, as he scored almost every game. Meeting
Monsieur Laroche at the cafe one morning, that gentle
man asked me why our hero did not offer odds to
everybody. I replied that no doubt many gentlemen
would feel hurt at such a proposition being made to
them, and I asked him—" Would you play Morphy at
pawn and move ? " to which he unhesitatingly replied
" Yes." M. Journoud was sitting beside him, and he
expressed himself in like manner. On informing Paul
180 PAUL MOEPHY.
Morphy of this conversation, he requested me to inform
the proprietor of the cafe that, in future, he should play
no one without giving odds ; excepting, however, Herr
Harrwitz. He was most desirous of again meeting the
Prussian amateur, the latter having made some rather
peculiar observations with regard to their match ; as,
for instance, that he had not lost the affair, Morphy
having consented to annul it : that he was not a match
player, and played much stronger off-hand : that Mor
phy did not beat him by combination, but by sitting
him out, and so forth. But Harrwitz always took care
to keep out of harm's way, and although Morphy came
day after day to the cafe, with the avowed intention of
meeting him, Herr H. had always got one or the other
reason for not playing.
Laroche, Budzinsky, Devinck, and other leading
amateurs tried their luck at pawn and move, with no
better result than contending even. Others tried at
pawn and two, as, for instance, Lequesne, Guibert, Le-
crivain, and Delaunay. Who of my chess readers does
not know this brilliant writer in the Palamede, who has
kept everybody on the broad grin throughout his
numerous articles? He is always full of fun and spark
ling wit, and merrily did he display it with Morphy.
The first time they played, Delaunay sacrificed piece
after piece, in a way to terrify anybody but his young
antagonist, and certainly seemed to occupy a position
dangerous to Morphy's peace of mind. The latter made
one of his peculiar moves,s when Delaunay observed,
MORPHY AND THE FBENCH AMATEURS. 181
eyeing the board with one eye, and the spectators with
the other—" Voila un coup du bon Dieu," and then
making his reply, which set our hero reflecting, he add
ed—" Et, en voila ten du diable." But it was all of
no use, and Morphy soon turned the tables upon him.
M. Delaunay styles himself " un casse ichiguier," for
he plays as though driving spike nails. At the London
Divan some months since he astonished the spectators
by breaking one of the pawns, when he immediately
cried out—" Oh, that's nothing ; I break the rooks in
Paris."
Morphy was easily approached by anybody, no
matter what their strength, and I doubt much whether
there is any frequenter of the Regence who did not
play one or more games with him. As he invariably
refused to play for any stake, this pleased them the
more, and set them making comparisons between him
and certain others, not at all complimentary to the lat
ter. But what pleased them most of all was the quiet
unobtrusiveness of his behavior, and the courtesy with
which he treated everybody. Where his skill gained
one admirer, his manner made ten warm friends.
Some of my readers may complain that I am " lay
ing it on rather thick," and ask " Why shouldn't he
be quiet and unobtrusive ? " I reply that I am not
to be deterred from writing what I know to be the
fact (having been a witness thereof for several months)
by any accusation of toadyism. I write what George
Walker, Saint Amant, Lowenthal, and all the chess
182 PAUL MOEPHY.
editors Morphy has met, have written before me ; and
they wrote as I now write, because the circumstance is
rather extraordinary. Chess players, generally, are a
class vain and imperious ; and young players, like the
young of all classes, are apt to be carried away by suc
cess. How few eminent amateurs are there who do not
give themselves certain airs when winning—aye, and
losing too—lolling back in their seats, sticking their
thumbs in their arm-holes, and regarding the spectators
with a self-satisfied air, as much as to say—"There,
my boys, what d'ye think of that ? " One gentleman
at the Regence had long bullied the gallery and his
antagonists in this manner ; no wonder, therefore, that
Morphy made warm friends of those who were that
man's enemies.
CHAP TEE XIV.
MOEPHY GETS BEATEN.
A few weeks after the resignation of the match by
Herr Harrwitz, the amateurs of the R6gence invited
Herr Anderssen to visit Paris for the purpose of play
ing a match with Paul Morphy. Our hero originally
intended making a visit to the principal chess clubs of
Germany, and especially to Berlin, but having been an
invalid since his arrival in the French capital, he feared
to undertake the long journey by rail, and it was in
consequence of this that the aforesaid invitation was
sent. Herr Anderssen immediately replied, that his
duties as mathematical professor at Breslau presented
an insurmountable objection to his leaving, but that the
Christmas vacation would enable him to meet the
American player in Paris.
Morphy said, thereupon, that he should be deprived
of the pleasure of crossing swords with the victor in
the International Tournament, inasmuch as he must be
at home before Christmas. On hearing this, I began
to talk the matter over quietly with him, asserting that
184 PAUL MOEPHT.
his voyage to Europe was useless, if he did not play
Anderssen. All was of no effect. Morphy did not
appear to have the slightest ambition, say what I would
to him. He must be at home in December ; he had
promised to be there, and home he would go. Very
well ; Morphy and I were at daggers drawn and we
began our fight. He said he would go, and I said he
shouldn't. He wanted to know how I could prevent
him ; I told him that all the clubs in Europe would stop
him. " Very well," answered he, " I'll be stronger
than all Europe." " Bravo," says I, " that's spirited, at
all events." Says he—says I—says I—says he—and
Morphy went to sleep and I to work.
Without saying a word to anybody, I set to writing
letters to all the leading Chess Clubs on the Cpntinent
and in England, informing them of the bad move Mor
phy was about to make, and requesting those in the
interests of chess to induce him to remain, until at all
events he had met Herr Anderssen. Now, the mere
fact of Morphy staying, as the simple individual, was
nothing ; but it was something to make sure beyond all
dispute that he was infallibly the best living player ;
and, in addition, to add many games to the finest pages
of chess literature. I am happy to state that the differ
ent clubs thought as I did ; so the result will prove.
After a week or two, Morphy began receiving let
ters from Amsterdam, Leipsic, Brussels, Berlin, Bres-
lau, etc.; from the London and St. George's Chess
Clubs ; requisitions signed by the amateurs of the Cafe
MOEPHY GETS BEATEN. 185
and Cercle de la Regence, expressing the earnest wish
of all that he would remain throughout the winter.
Herr Anderssen wrote him a lengthy epistle, in which
he assured him he did not think it possible he could
leave Europe without playing him, and adding his voice
to the general cry.
Morphy thought he must go. Then the society in
which our hero was so frequent a visitor began to de
clare that he really must remain, and it is hard work
for any man to refuse when a request is backed by such
sweet glances as make requests almost commands.
Our hero was now wavering, and the game was in
my hands, he not at all sorry if I could win it. I had
one final resource : a pretty little check-mate with a
medical man and a certificate. The doctor, calling on
our patient one day, learned from him that he was
about returning home, whereupon he informed him
that in the then state of his health a winter voyage
across the Atlantic was not precisely beneficial, and
wrote his opinion accordingly. This I took, and in
closed with other matter to his friends in New Orleans,
and Morphy seeing no way out of the difficulty, ulti
mately surrendered, and I had the satisfaction of hear
ing him declare that he should pass the winter in Paris.
There was only one person dissatisfied with this. Meet
ing Harrwitz shortly after, I informed him with a be
nignant smile, " You will be happy to hear that Mor
phy has decided to pass a few months longer here."
Harrwitz replied, with a smile that was not benignant,
"Then Mr. Morphy is not a man of his word."
CHAPTER XT.
MORPHT AND ANDEESSEN.
The first week in December, Monsieur de Riviere
received a communication from Herr Anderssen, an
nouncing his approaching arrival in Paris. A week
prior to this Morphy had been laid up in bed with a
severe illness. The rigors of a first winter in northern
climates had told upon him, and I feared much for the
result. He was leeched, and lost a great quantity of
blood—I told him three or four pints ; to which he re
plied, " Then there's only a quart left." He was kept
very low during a fortnight, and having to lift him out
of bed only four days before the match with the great
Prussian master, I found him too weak to stand upon
his legs, although in bed he did not feel so helpless.
For two months he had had an antipathy to chess, and
I had experienced the greatest difficulty in inducing
him to go to the Regence at all. When I would ask
him at breakfast what he was going to do with himself
during the day, his immediate reply would be, " I am
not going to the Regence," and he declined invitations
if he thought he should be obliged to play chess.
MOEPHY AND ANDEBSSEX. 187
When I brought him the news that Anderssen had
left Breslau, Herr Mayet having written me to that ef
fect, Morphy said to me, " I have a positive chess fever
coming over me. Give me the board and pieces, and
I'll show you some of Anderssen's games." And with
his astounding memory, he gave me battle after battle
with different adversaries, variations and all. How he
dilated on a certain game between him and Dufresne,
in which, though under the mate, he first of all sacri
fices his Queen, and after seven or eight moves forces
his opponent to resign. " There," said Morphy, " that
shows the master."
What wonderment he has caused with his omnipo
tent memory ! I have seen him sit for hours at the
Divan and the Rigence, playing over, not merely his
own battles, but the contests of others, till the specta
tors could scarcely believe their senses. It will be re
membered by many of my readers, that when Mr.
Staunton published the eight blindfold games played at
Birmingham, he omitted some twenty or thirty of the
concluding moves in the game with the Rev. Mr.
Salmon. When we had been two months in Paris,
Herr Lowenthal wrote me to request that I would for
ward him the remaining moves, as there was a desire
to have the partie complete. It was nearly midnight,
and Morphy had gone into his bedroom after dictating
me some games played during the day, and, mindful of
Herr L.'s request, I called to him, asking whether he
was coming back, when he replied that ho was already
188 PAUL MOEPHY.
in bed. I said I should be obliged if he would let me
bring him a board and light, in order that he might
dictate me the required moves, when he answered
" There's no necessity for that : read me over what
Staunton published, and I'll give you the remainder."
He called over the omitted moves as fast as I could
write them down.
Going into Morphy's bedroom one morning at ten
o'clock, whom should I find sitting there but Herr An-
derssen? He had arrived by a late train the night
previous, and his first visit was to his young challenger,
whom he was indeed sorry to find ill in bed, especially
as his absence from Breslau was limited to two weeks.
Morphy assured him that he should be well enough to
play the following week ; but Anderssen replied that
he should not like to commence a match until Morphy
was in a fit state to undergo the fatigue. They then
agreed that the match should consist of thirteen games ;
in other words, he should be victor who first scored
seven ; and, as neither of them desired any stake but
honor, the preliminaries were quickly arranged. From
that we got to talking on various subjects, and An
derssen informed us, greatly to our surprise, that the
German papers had published a statement to this effect :
" Mr. Morphy has finally decided on remaining in Eu
rope until spring, in consequence of the pressing soli
citations of his friend, Herr Harrwitz." How we
roared !
This was Anderssen's first visit to the French me-.
MOEPHY AND ANDEESSEN. 189
tropolis, and I immediately offered to show him some
of the lions. So forth we sallied. He was desirous of
going to the Regence ; but two hours would elapse be
fore anybody would be there, and in the mean time he
could see a few public buildings. The first place I took
him to was, of course, the Louvre, and, as it had rained
copiously the night before, I walked him across the
Place, du Carrousel, in order to soil his boots with the
mud. Most of his attention was taken up with keep
ing that portion of his attire clean ; but, when that had
become no longer possible, his leisure was entirely de
voted to sight-seeing. Of course, we could not alto
gether avoid talking about the main object of his visit ;
he told me he had only seen a few of Morphy's games,
and asked me what was the opinion of the Regence in
reference to his style of play. I replied that it was the
opposite of what they thought in England and America,
characterizing it as sound rather than brilliant ; but that
there was a reason for this, inasmuch as the French
players persisted in playing close openings. He re
plied, " No wonder ; no man would willingly expose
himself to Morphy's thundering attacks," [attaques fou-
droyantes.]
On returning to the Regence, we found Harrwitz,
who, by-the-bye, is a fellow-townsman of Anderssen,
and they were at the same school together. The latter
knew that Harrwitz stated that he beat him the major
ity of games, and he was most desirous of proving the
fallacy of the assertion, and immediately proposed an
190 PAUL MOEPHY.
encounter. This was accepted, and out of six games,
played on five different occasions, Anderssen won three,
Harrwitz one, and two were drawn. After that, little
doubt existed as to which was the stronger player, and
when, just before leaving Paris, Anderssen was compli
mented on this result, he said, " Oh, there is but one
Morphy in the world."
On the day of Anderssen's arrival, Morphy told his
medical adviser that he must get him well enough to
commence the match on the following Monday. The
doctor said it all depended upon his feeling sufficiently
strong to undergo the fatigue, when his patient replied,
that what he feared was a hard battle exhausting him
too much to continue the struggle next day. On the
doctor's advice, he consented to play the match in the
hotel, so as not to undergo the fatigue of moving, and
it was arranged that only such as were specially invited
should be present, but that the moves should be for
warded every half-hour to the Regence.
The Saturday before the commencement of the
match, Harrwitz performed his feat of playing eight
blindfold games simultaneously at the rooms of the Cer-
cle, only subscribers of five francs or upwards being ad
mitted. Herr Harrwitz had fixed upon seven o'clock in
the evening as the time for commencing ; and I, like many
others, had advised him to choose an earlier hour, or he
would not get through till long past midnight. He re
plied that he should finish in from four to five hours ;
" he knew this positively because he had been rehearsing
MOEPHY AND ANDEESSEN. 191
for the occasion ; " but the result proved how much he
was mistaken, as he did not get through till near sunrise.
His antagonists were mainly rook or rook and knight
players, Signor Preti, the weakest of Morphy's blind
fold opponents, being incomparably the strongest.
Herr Anderssen, who was present, assured me that
many of the players left pieces en prise, as though de
signedly, and that, beyond the fact of seeing the boards
in his mind's eye, Harrwitz proved nothing by his ex
ertions. The strangest affair in connection with this
display is, that although Harrwitz edited a chess col
umn in the Monde UlustrS, he never gave a single one
of his blindfold games, nor would he permit any to be
made public.
Mr. Harrwitz was perfectly in his right mind when
endeavoring to emulate Paul Morphy. But the folks
at the Regence ridiculed what they called aping his
superior, and many were the squibs got off at his ex
pense. One, the most popular of all, was as follows :—
" Tu veux singer Morphy, joueur phenomenal ;
Jeune imprudent, tu forces ta nature.
En vain tu te poses en origiual,
Tu n'cn es que la caricature."
In plain English prose—" You wish to ape Morphy, the
phenomenon ; imprudent young man, you strain your
self. It is useless to put yourself forward as an origi
nal; you are merely a caricature."—Not complimen
tary, certainly.
On Monday morning, I got Morphy out of bed for
192 PAUL MOEPHY.
the first time since his illness, and, at noon, assisted him
into the room where the match was to come off. No
time was lost in getting to work, and, within five min
utes of his entering, as many moves had been played.
Our hero had first move, and ventured the Evans' gam
bit, which he lost after seven hours' fighting, and up
wards of seventy moves. I noticed that he was rest
less throughout the contest, which was only to be ex
pected after having been so long in bed, and without
nourishment.
Morphy was charmed with Anderssen's defence
throughout, and has frequently cited it as an admirably
conducted strategy. It proved to him that the Evans'
is indubitably a lost game for the first player, if the de
fence be carefully played ; inasmuch as the former can
never recover the gambit pawn, and the position sup
posed to be acquired at the outset, cannot be main
tained.
He did not appear much fatigued after his exer
tions, and next morning he had visibly improved in ap
pearance. Anderssen, now having the move, played
out his king's pawn and knight, and Morphy supposed
he too was going to have a turn at the Evans'. No
such thing ; he played that disgusting arrangement, the
Ruy Lopez ; but it only came to a drawn game, our
hero believing he himself could have won it, had he
played properly at the end. The third day, Morphy
looked himself again, his complexion being clear, and
his eyes sparkling with all their Creole brilliancy. He
MOEPHY AND ANDERSSEN. 193
thought he should like to have a turn at the Ruy Lo
pez also, and dashed away at such a furious rate, that
Anderssen resigned in a few minutes over the hour,
some twenty-one moves having been played. Anders-
sen immediately asked if he would commence another
game forthwith, and Morphy consented; this fourth
contest being also a Ruy Lopez, but ending likewise in
the discomfiture of the Prussian champion. And this
partie was the last we saw of R. L. during the struggle.
Morphy now scored the fifth, sixth, and seventh
games, thus having won five consecutively. The eighth
was a draw; the ninth he carried off in seventeen
moves ; the tenth, played immediately after, Anderssen
marked in seventy-seven. As the Professor was leav
ing, he said to me in his quiet, funny way, " Mr. Mor
phy wins his games in Seventeen moves, and I in Sev
enty. But that is only natural." The eleventh partie
Morphy scored, thus winning the match ; having only
lost two games and drawn two.
Immediately after each day's play, flerr Anderssen
would walk straight to the Regence for the purpose of
expediting reports of the same to his friends in Leipsic
and Berlin. There were always crowds to meet him,
and to assure him he could have won, and ought not to
have lost ; but the Professor smiled at them incredu
lously. I have heard him tell them, " Dites cela a M.
Morphy," (Tell that to Mr. Morphy,) over and over
again. One individual, who from the beginning, had
questioned Morphy's superiority,—though he had been
10
194 PAUL MOEPHY.
beaten by him in the proportion of *l to 1—told the
Professor in the presence of a crowd of amateurs:
" You are not playing any thing like as well as with
Dufresne."—" No," replied Anderssen, " Morphy won't
let me ; " and he added, " It is no use struggling against
him ; he is like a piece of machinery which is sure to
come to a certain conclusion." On another occasion
he said: "Mr. Morphy always plays, not merely the
best, but the very best move, and if we play the move
only approximatively correct, we are sure to lose. No
body can hope to gain more than a game, now and
then, from him." And, in reply to a question of Mon
sieur de Riviere, he said in my hearing : " It is impos
sible to play chess better than Mr. Morphy ; if there
be any difference in strength between him and Labour-
donnais, it is in his favor."
I have never seen a nobler-hearted gentleman than
Herr Anderssen. He would sit at the board, examin
ing the frightful positions into which Morphy had forced
him, until his whole face was radiant with admiration
of his antagonist's strategy, and, positively laughing
outright, he would commence resetting the pieces for
another game, without a remark. I never heard him
make a single observation to Morphy complimentary
of his skill; but, to others, he was loud in admiration
of the young American.
After the match was over, the two antagonists
played six off-hand games, all gambits, Anderssen win
ning one, and Morphy five. These also came off at the
MOEPHY AND ANDEESSEN. 195
Hotel Breteuil, and were rattled away inside of three
hours.
The gallery of spectators who witnessed this great
contest between the champions of the Old World and
the New, was select, if not numerous. There were
present, almost constantly, Saint Amant, De Riviere,
Journoud, Carlini, Preti, Grosboulogne, Lequesne, and
one or two others, and amongst the occasional visitors
were Counts Casabianca and Bastorot, M. Devinck,
the Paris correspondent of the N. Y. Times, and any
of our hero's countrymen who desired to be present.
One night, after the day's battle was over, Morphy and
I were sitting in our room, chatting together, when an
immense stranger appeared and announced himself as
follows : " I am Prince Galitzin ; I wish to see Mr.
Morphy." Morphy looked up from a fauteuil in which
he was buried, and replied, " I am he." The Prince
answered, " It is not possible ! you're too young ; " and
then he seated himself by Morphy's side and told him,
" I first heard of your wonderful deeds on the frontiers
of Siberia. One of my suite had a copy of the chess
paper published in Berlin, the Schachzeitung, and ever
since that time I have been wanting to see you." And
he told our hero that he must pay a visit to St. Peters
burg ; for the chess club in the Imperial Palace would
receive him with enthusiasm. I did not hear Morphy
promise to go, however.
But to return to -Anderssen. The Professor came
and went away in a hurry, his vacations only lasting
196 PAUL MOEPHY.
two weeks. As he wished us good-bye, he said slyly to
Morphy, " They won't be pleased with me at Berlin,
but I shall tell them, ' Mr. Morphy will come here.' "
After the conclusion of the match, I pointed out to
Herr Anderssen certain remarks on his play in the
Illustrated London News, in which the writer observed,
" Thi*is not the play of the victor of the Tournament
of '51." He replied—" Oh, we know Mr. Staunton ; in
1851 his opinions of my play were not very high, and
he lost not by my skill, but because he was ill. Mr.
Staunton always has two meanings, one which he writes,
and one which he keeps to himself."
OHAPTEK XVI.
MOEPHY AITD MONGEEDIEU.
Aftee Anderssen's departure, Paul Morphy declared
he would play no more even matches, and, certainly,
his resolve was justified by the unheard-of manner in
which he had walked over all opponents. There are
but two players who do not confess the inutility of
contending against him on even terms—Messrs. Staun
ton and Harrwitz—but then the former would not
fight, and the latter fought and ran away, so that their
opinions, with regard to themselves and Morphy, are
somewhat damaged by circumstances. The opinions
of these two gentlemen are, in fact, peculiar one
towards the other; Mr. Harrwitz declaring that he
can give Mr. Staunton the odds of pawn and move ; and
Mr. S., that he also can afford the same advantage to
the Prussian player. But no man in his senses believes
either of them.
Morphy now determined to offer the pawn and
move to Herr Harrwitz, and forthwith challenged him
to the contest, but the laWer respectfully declined, on
WEBSTER BRANCH. ^,
533 East 76th Street. '
198 PAUL MOEPHY.
the grounds that he considered himself quite as good a
player as his challenger. Modest, was it not ? especially
just after their late match, and the sauve quipeut man
ner in which the Prussian had shown his heels before
its conclusion ? Morphy felt so much desire to play
this proposed match, that he even offered to find stakes
to back his antagonist, but all to no purpose. One or
two croakers expressed their - opinion that Morphy
would scarcely get a game if the affair came off, when
our hero replied—" If I do not beat him, he will at all
events have to work hard for the odd game."
Harrwitz having declined all further risk, there now
remained little to be accomplished, and Morphy for
sook the Regence and seemed to have taken a positive
aversion to chess. There was, however, one more ad
versary to be overcome; one, who, like Anderssen,
sought out our hero in the French capital, and threw
down his gauntlet, which was immediately taken up.
Mr. Mongredieu, the President of the London Chess
Club, made the journey to Paris expressly to remind
Paul Morphy that before his departure from England,
he had promised to play a match with him, and he now
announced himself as ready for the encounter. Mr.
Mongredieu had no idea of vanquishing his youthful
foe, but in addition to the pleasure of a tilt with him,
he was desirous of seeing by how much Morphy could
beat him.
The contest came off at Mr. Mongredieu's rooms in
the Hotel du Louvre, Messrs. St. Amant and De
MOEPHY AND MONGEEDIEUt 199
Riviere being the only strangers present. The first
game admirably played by Mr. M. resulted in a draw,
and then Morphy scored seven parties one after the
other, which constituted him victor. The third game,
beautifully managed throughout by Mr. Mongredieu,
slipped from his grasp after nine or ten hours' struggle ;
because of his not playing the very best move, Morphy
stepped in at the lucky moment and the day was his.
I can easily understand that Mr. Mongredieu was ex
hausted after so many hours' intense application ; Mor
phy never tires, and no amount of continuous sitting
will ever influence his play. I have seen him sit down,
in New York, at 9 a.m., and beat one antagonist after
another until past midnight, for many successive days,
yet without weakening his play in the least ; and when
Paulsen would take half an hour on a move, an hour
over the succeeding one, and on a certain occasion
reached the unparalleled limit of two hours, Morphy
sat calmly looking on, without the slightest evidence of
impatience. Before Mr. Staunton declined Morphy's
challenge, I was frequently amused by gentlemen who
knew the former well, but knew little of the latter,
expressing the opinion that the English player would
tire out his youthful challenger, and win by playing
" a waiting game." I laughed heartily at their fears,
for I knew Morphy could sit out Staunton and the late
Mr. Williams one after the other. And I think my
readers must also be satisfied of this, reniemberin.
Morphy's ten hows' blindfold play at Paris, ioU^
taking even a glass of water, and in bodily pain t
CH.APTEK XVII.
TROPHIES .
And now that the battles are over, and the cam
paigns of this " Attila the destroyer " concluded, let us
count the killed and wounded.
IN ENGLAND.
Match Games (Even.)
Morphy, 9. Lowenthal, 3. Drawn, 3.
Pawn and Move.
Morphy, 5. Rev. J. Owen (Alter), 0. Drawn, 2.
Off-hand Games.
19, Barnes, 7, Drawn 0
10, . . Bird, 1,u
1
5, Boden, 1,
. Hampton, 0,
u3
2, •u 0
2, Kipping, 0, .n
0
6, . . Lowe, 0,I!
0
3, Medley, 0U
0
2, .. Mongredieu, 0, • «
0
4, Owen, 1,u 0
TEOPHHS. 201
Consultation Games.
Staunton and Owen, 0. Morphy and Barnes, 2. Drawn, 0.
Lowenthal and Medley, 0. Morphy and Mongredieu, 0.
Drawn, 1.
Lowenthal, Mongredieu, and Medley, 0. Morphy, Walker
Greenaway, 0. Drawn, 1.
Eight Games Blindfold at Birmingham.
Morphy beat Lord Lyttelton, Doctors Salmon and Free
man, Messrs. Rhodes, "Wills and Carr; drew against Mr.
Avery, and lost the game with Mr. Kipping.
In addition to the above score there were many contests at
odds, which it is unnecessary to mention ; Morphy being al
most invariably successful.
IN PRANCE.
Morphy, 7,
» 7,
Morphy, 5,
" 2,
« 7,
« 0,
« 12,
" 5,
" 6,
Morphy, 5,
« 2,
" 1,
" 3,
Match Games.
Anderssen, 2,
Harrwitz, 2,
Mongredieu, 0,
Off-hand Games (Even).
Anderssen, 1,
Bancker, 0,
Budzinsky, 0,
Harrwitz, 1, .
Journoud, 0,
Laroche, 0,
Riviere, 1, .
Odds of Pawn and Move.
Budzinsky, 1 ,.
Devinck, 0,
Guibert, 0,
Laroche, 0,
Drawn, 2
''' 1
. « 1
Drawn, 0
<: 0
ii0
0
0
2
1
Drawn, 1
" 2
. " 0
« 3
202 PAXIL MOEPHT.
Odds of the Pawn and two Moves.
Morphy. 4, . Delaunay, 0,
" 5, . . Lecrivain, 2,
"3, . . Lequesne, 0, .
Drawn, 0
, 0
. « 1
Morphy, 2,
« 0,
8 5,
5,
Consultation Games.
Saint Amant and Lequesne, 0, . Drawn 2
De Riviere and Journoud, 1, . "0
Duke of Brunswick, Counts Casabianca
and Isouard, 0, . . . . " 1
Duke of Brunswick and Count Isou
ard, 0, " 0
Blindfold Games.
Morphy beat Messrs. Bancker, Bierwirth, Bornemann, Po-
tier, Preti, and Seguin, and drew the games with Messrs.
Guibert and Lequesne.
At Versailles, Morphy, playing blindfolded, won against
Monsieur Chamouillet and the Versailles Chess Club playing
together against him, in consultation.
I should like to say something on the above score,
but feel quite incompetent to the task. I can merely
state that no player who ever lived, (of whom we know
any thing,) can produce such a catalogue of victories.
Surely, it is not too much to declare, on the authority
of so much proof, that
MOEPHT CAN GIVE Pawn AND MOVE TO EVERY
LIVING PLATEE.
TROPHIES. 203
Valedictory.
Paul Morphy has vanquished the paladins of the
Old and New Worlds, and vaulted into the very throne
of Labourdonnais and Philidor.
Is not this indeed a victory for him,—a triumph for
his countrymen ? Shall not this youth be esteemed
worthy of all honor, who, without experience, has, by
his own marvellous genius, eclipsed the brightness of
those stars which have flashed in the chess firmament
before him ?
Chess may be but a game, a pastime, a relaxation ;
but Chess has at times absorbed the faculties of the intel
lectual in every clime ; it numbers amongst its amateurs
the greatest names of battle-fields and thrones ; it tells
of warriors, poets, painters, sculptors, statesmen and
divines ; it possesses a literature and language of its
own ; it makes enemies friends, and finds a temple on
the ocean, in the fortress, and by the peaceful fireside.
And long as Chess shall last, Paul Morphy's name
will be as a " Household Word," and his deeds be held
in lasting memory.
THE END.
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